House lights draw baby turtle to pool

Lights are a problem for sea turtles everywhere, as illustrated by this article by Peter Frost from The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, USA):

HILTON HEAD ISLAND --One of the first baby sea turtles to emerge from beach-side nests on Hilton Head Island found its way into a swimming pool last week because bright lights from an oceanfront home confused the tiny loggerhead on its journey to the sea.

When Hilton Head code enforcement officer Connie Pratt visited the home the next afternoon to issue a warning for violating the town's lights-out on the beach policy, she found the baby turtle swimming in the chlorinated pool.

A group of teenage girls from New York whose parents rented the house for a week said they were unaware of the law, Pratt said, a common refrain among summer visitors.

Pratt rushed the turtle to the sea water, but there's little chance it will survive.

After loggerheads hatch from eggs buried beneath the sand, they have just enough energy to reach the Gulf Stream.

"He spent more than 12 hours swimming around in a pool," Pratt said. "But he was still moving, so who knows?"

Turtle experts estimate that one out of every 100 hatchlings makes it to their third day, and only one of every 10,000 eggs laid produces a turtle that survives to reproductive maturity at about 25 years old.

Baby turtles use the moon and other reflections to guide them into the ocean.

Bright lights from structures along the beach - prohibited by Hilton Head after 10 p.m. from May to October - can cause the infants to head in the wrong direction and almost certain death.