Our Goal
Help us save leatherback and olive ridley sea turtle eggs and hatchlings in Guatemala by helping us build a new hatchery!
Our Background
Despite their endangered status, virtually all sea turtle nests in Guatemala are poached and the eggs sold as a supposed aphrodisiac. This practice has contributed to the decline of leatherback
and olive ridley populations in the Pacific Ocean. To counter this, the government established an egg donation system whereby local egg collectors are allowed to harvest nests as long as they donate a dozen eggs per nest to a local hatchery, and
that is where ARCAS (the Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Association) comes in! With the help of international volunteers, ARCAS solicits donations of sea turtle eggs from local collectors, reburies them in one of its two hatcheries and after
an incubation period of roughly 50 days, releases the hatchlings into the sea.
Your Contribution
Now this is where
you come in! ARCAS’s main Hawaii Hatchery is over 18 years old, severely deteriorated by the wind and salt blowing off the Pacific Ocean, and is in urgent need of reconstruction. The hatchery can no longer accommodate the growing numbers of
eggs that ARCAS collects and is no longer a secure place to incubate eggs. Holes in the protective fencing and the walls of the hatchery allow predators to get inside the hatchery and steal precious eggs and hatchlings.
Help us raise the money we need to build a proper and secure hatchery! Your donation will have a direct conservation effect, ensuring the survival of the endangered sea turtle eggs and hatchlings
of the beaches of Hawaii!
Important Note!
Because there is no PayPal service in Guatemala, our friends at the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST) have kindly offered to act as our fiscal sponsor for this campaign by
allowing us to use their PayPal account to process payments.
Both WIDECAST and ARCAS are nonprofit organizations so your donation is tax deductible (in the US). Please feel free to email us at [email protected] with any questions.
