Hotel Housekeepers Help Protect Endangered Sea Turtles

Hotel housekeepers in Georgia played a part in protecting endangered loggerhead sea turtles, Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB-radio) reports.

Housekeepers at the Admiral’s Inn in Tybee Island, Georgia, found six loggerhead sea turtle hatchings in a guest room wastebasket in 2018. A couple from Kentucky had taken sea turtle eggs to the hotel where they hatched. The couple was fined US$930 each and charged with interfering with a threatened animal species.

After finding the hatchlings, the hotel contacted the Tybee Island Marine Science Center. Experts at the center immediately released five of the turtles into the ocean.

But the science center had recently released their last loggerhead ambassador and was due for a new one. So one of the hatchlings, Admiral, or Abby for short, spent the last three years at the center, helping teach visitors about turtle conservation and the dangers of marine debris.

At 3 years old and more than 56 pounds, center experts decided Abby could retire from her ambassador role and was ready to take on the open ocean. They released her on Tybee Island’s North Beach, to the cheers of bystanders chanting her name.