Baby Turtles Mistakenly Head Towards Cycling Path Near Changi Coast
Life’s tough for little animals who’ve just been hatched and don’t know much about the dangers of the world.
So it proved for hundreds of tiny sea turtles that hatched at Changi Coast a few nights ago.
For some reason, they headed towards the cycling path instead of the beach and were in danger of being crushed by cyclists.
Thankfully, passers-by managed to rescue most of them.
Sea turtles hatched at Changi beach
The story was shared in a Facebook post on 17 Dec by a Mr Brendan Goh on the Nature Society (Singapore) Facebook group.
He said he’d come across a sea turtle hatching event at about 9pm on the beach near the National Service Resort & Country Club (NSRCC).
The area has a cycling path that stretches from Tanah Merah Coast Road to the East Coast Parkway (ECP).
Turtles in danger of being crushed
After being hatched, the turtles were supposed to head out to sea, but many headed inland instead, Mr Goh said.
He thought the young ones were drawn to the bright lights along the park connector.
This spelt danger for them, as oncoming cyclists could crush them.
He thus helpfully parked his bike across the cycling path to slow down traffic.
Passers-by came forward to help
Thankfully, Mr Goh wasn’t the only kind-hearted soul.
Other passers-by came forward to rescue the many hatchlings and brought them back to the beach.
Others helped to direct cyclists to avoid them. He thanked these good Samaritans who came forward.
Sadly, some of the hatchlings were crushed, Mr Goh said. However, he believed that most of them were safe.
He advised the public to be careful if they’re around the area.
Netizen finds 1 hatchling
Another netizen related the story of how he found 1 of the hatchlings.
He said he and his girlfriend were cycling towards the ECP from Changi when he came across the cutie, which was so small it fitted into the palm of his hand.
According to him, some said they found “hundred-over” of them, but he found 1.
Nevertheless, he seemed to enjoy playing with his newfound “temporary pet” in the videos he posted.
Hatchling released to beach
Of course, the turtles’ true home is the sea.
Thus, the couple eventually headed to the beach to release their little one.
They cheered when the tide came in, allowing the hatchling to finally swim back to where it belonged.
Farewell, little one
Source
Kudos to the turtle rescuers
Kudos to the people who helped the hatchlings by saving them from harm.
Singaporeans are sometimes considered cold and practical, so it’s great that they’ve shown that we can have compassion towards little animals too.
Hopefully, not many of the turtles perished that night, and most of them safely found their way to the sea.
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Featured images adapted from Brendan Goh on Facebook and Райищ Гирдаис on Facebook.
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