Corpus Christi (KIII News) — It was a windy day along much of the Texas coastline Wednesday and for some reason, that causes more endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtles to start building nests along the beaches.
On Wednesday experts found nearly 30 of those nests, and they had some specially trained dogs there to help them.
Saul and his handler, Christian Fritz, came all the way from San Marcos, Texas, to help look for the endangered turtles' nests. When it comes to rescuing Kemp's Ridley eggs, it's a race against time.
Officials patrolled up and down the coastline were finding the endangered turtles and their nests.
"The peak of the Kemp's Ridley nesting season is typically the last two weeks of May and the first two weeks of June, so we're right in the middle of the peak of nesting," said Dr. Donna Shaver.
They marked their path from the ocean all the way up to the spot where the eggs were laid. Joining the effort for their first time ever was Fritz and his dogs Saul and Dasha.
"These dogs are going to be trained to help us find the eggs so we don't have to leave them on the beach," National Parks Service Biologist Cynthia Rubio said.
Fritz setup a non-profit called K9's 4 Conservation and wants to do his part to help out the park rangers.
"I'd like to have more teams. Right now it's just me, Saul and Dasha. This is a 70-mile stretch of beach. They also nest on Mustang and clear down to South Padre, so I'd like to have at least four teams next year if I can find some funding," Fritz said.
Rubio explained why finding the turtle nests is so important.
"We want to be able to get to those sites to be able to examine the turtles, mark the nest location, and make sure she has tags so we can identify her in the future," Rubio said.
The turtle hunt caught the eye of tourists who were hoping to come away with some vacation photos of the turtles.
"We've got to save the ecology, save the turtles," park visitor Jeff Dillon said. "We stopped at the visitor's center and pick up one of the cards they give so we can call, so that's why we drove down here to see if we could see turtles."
Our coastline isn't the only hotspot to find nesting Kemp's Ridleys. In a video out of Rancho Nuevo, Mexico, some 8,000 nesting Kemp's Ridleys came ashore over the weekend. It was the biggest nesting event in more than 40 years!
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