The chickens were just going to have to find a new place to live. Pelagio Paulino needed their coop, with its tin roof, sturdy door and walls of wire mesh for his turtle eggs. Of course, the turtle eggs wouldn’t rest in the broody nests the hens used. No – they would incubate for about 60 days, safe and sound inside blue and red Coleman coolers packed with sand from the nests where they were originally laid.
On the day we visited, there were about 15 coolers in the small coop. At first glance, if you didn’t know what was in them, it could look like the Paulino family was gearing up for a really excellent party. But instead of cold drinks like Presidente and Coco Rico, the coolers were full of green or hawksbill turtle eggs, carefully labeled with species, dates, times and locations.
Pelagio, known as the “Mayor of the Sea Turtles” in his small community of Mano Juan in the Dominican Republic, takes his self-appointed responsibility to protect the turtles very seriously. And he has an important role in a growing movement — one that also includes The Nature Conservancy, its partners and a newly constructed “house for turtles” — to protect nature in the Parque Nacional del Este in the Dominican Republic.
Stumping for Turtles
Pelagio monitors the beaches during nesting season so he can harvest the eggs before any harm comes to them — from two-legged, four-legged or six-legged predators. He incubates them in his “turtle coop” and then returns the hatchlings to the beaches where they were collected.
If he has money for gas, he’ll use his boat to cruise the coastline of the Island of Soana looking for tell-tale turtle tracks in the sand to lead him to the nests. If there’s no money, he’ll walk the beach — about 30 kilometers (24 miles) round trip — and use his mules to pack the coolers.
And if the mules break down, as happened recently when one had a bad foot and one had a bad back, Pelagio carries the coolers himself. It is tough and uncomfortable work, he says, and “the mosquitoes just make it worse.”
Pelagio’s City Hall
Thanks to a recent construction project, Pelagio’s efforts are receiving an unprecedented amount of attention. With support from the Conservancy, the Dominican Republic has opened Casa de las Tortugas, the country’s first conservation center dedicated to sea turtles.
Located on Isla Saona in Parque Nacional del Este, Casa de las Tortugas was created when a USAID grant designed to promote sustainable ecotourism throughout the country funded the renovation of a long-abandoned building and created a comprehensive interpretive center.
The conservation center is a key component of the Conservancy’s long-term vision for marine species conservation and sustainable tourism in Parque del Este. With the final installation of educational panels, the conservation center is now open and ready to make locals and visitors aware of the dangers confronting sea turtles and the efforts underway to protect them.
Hope for Turtles — and Chickens
On its own, Pelagio’s story is remarkable, but it is even more remarkable because he is no longer alone in his dedication. He has younger men working with him now, and people in the community now value sea turtles as living animals rather than as commodities.
And the basics of Pelagio’s story — of one local man working (often at his own expense) to fill a gap in conservation management and enforcement within a national park— is one that is repeated throughout the Caribbean.
And though the details of stories differ from the Bahamas to Jamaica to the Dominican Republic, one knotty problem is at the center of them all—the need for effective management and enforcement of laws within the parks. This is the knot that the Conservancy-supported Caribbean Challenge is working to unravel.
Through the efforts of one of the scientists he works with, Pelagio recently became an official park ranger. Now he has some enforcement authority and he is hopeful that if the financing for perpetual management in the park can be sustained through the Caribbean Challenge, his turtles will still be safe, long after he is too old to walk the beach carrying coolers full of sand and eggs on his shoulders.
And maybe, if they can create a more formal turtle hatchery in Mano Juan, his mother’s chickens can have their coop back.
From: The Nature Conservancy