Thousands of baby river turtles were released into a protected rainforest of Peru on Sunday.
The release took place in the Amazonian Peruvian Moche River, which stretches from Peru to Bolivia, one of the world’s largest freshwater rivers. Its deepest reaches stretch to the Chilean border.
Hundreds of volunteers and people from government organizations, as well as charity groups, helped to release the babies.
Baby turtles had been found abandoned in plastic bags in several places on the river’s banks, but many were too small to survive in the hostile environment, so the National Forestry Service (Sernaflor) installed more than 200 beehives on June 11 in an effort to help them reach sexual maturity.
In July, Sernaflor released 123 baby turtles in the area, and on Sunday, the focus turned to releasing many more of the babies.
The “bareback breeding network” was formed by Sernaflor, the association Zozu, and the Stichting Galit in June and currently releases around 100 babies every month.
More information on this program can be found on the Sernaflor website.
Echo of Ecumenical News Service/Voice of the Faithful /Sky News
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