Olive Ridley turtles flock Kolavippalam beach

Kozhikode, Nov 12 (UNI) Olive Ridley turtles have started flocking Kolavippalam beach, near here, which is a favourite nesting ground for the endangered species, Theeram Nature Conservation Society (TNCS), an NGO engaged in its conservation, said today.

TNCS activists had so far collected 692 eggs laid by five turtles during nights and early mornings from November 7 till date along the eight-km stretch between Korappuzha to Avikkal, part of the beach, its president M T Suresh Babu told UNI.

The eggs were placed in a specially-built hatchery near the beach, he said.

On an average 65 turtles used to reach Kolavippalam every year for nesting in the past, but their numbers declined to ten due to gradual disappearance of the beach as a result of ''illegal'' sand-mining, he said.

Mr Babu said the organisation had built the hatchery on the beach itself earlier and now it had to purchase 2.5 cents of land for the purpose due to the shrinking of the beach.

Sand-mining still continued despite a High Court order banning it, he said.

Stating that 45 to 60 days would be required for incubation, he said the hatchlings would be released into deep sea after the process.

The hatchey set up by the TNCS had released 40,000 hatchlings into the sea so far, he claimed.

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