This post is provided by guest blogger, Rachel Neppes.
July marks the beginning of sea turtle nesting season along the shores of Los Cabos, Mexico, when female endangered sea turtles return to the beach for the first time in a year to lay their eggs and make way for new sea turtle generations.
Unfortunately, rebuilding endangered sea turtle populations in Baja California Sur is becoming more and more of an uphill battle as the turtles’ nesting habitats continue to be cleared away by developers to make room for new hotels and resorts.
In fact, today only one private natural preserve remains in all of Los Cabos for the protection of these endangered species, and that too is now at risk of being developed by a Sinaloa-based company which has been trying to claim 750 acres of the 2,000-acre beachfront property illegally since 2007.
René Pinal, who owns this land, also runs a non-profit organization there called ASUPMATOMA (stands for the Association for the Protection of the Environment and the Marine Turtle in Southern Baja), which has been dedicated to protecting the area’s endangered sea turtles and other habitat for nearly two decades.
The existing private preserve, which is open to the public year-round, offers environmental education programs and activities, as well as opportunities to participate in the release of the newborn baby sea turtles to sea that hatch from their eggs on the Los Cabos shores each fall between September and November.
Pinal says he urges the public to get involved in ASUPMATOMA’s sea turtle rescue efforts now more than ever in order to help save this last private sea turtle nesting beach from being developed. For more information about how you can help, please visit www.savetheseaturtles.org.
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