Endangered turtles thrown a lifeline

A generous donation of 50 turtle nest cages by two businesses, Hickey’s Metal Fabrication, and Specialised Brake and Clutch Service, to the Pormpuraaw Land and Sea Management Rangers (Pormpuraaw Rangers) will help the next generation of endangered olive ridley turtles survive.

Staff from the Penrith, NSW - based businesses donated time and materials to the effort which was organised by Specialised Brake and Clutch Service’s Kevin Gavin.

‘Everyone was very pleased to help,’ he said.

‘This is the least we can do to help protect Australia’s endangered marine turtles.’

The nest cages protect turtle eggs and hatchlings from predation by feral pigs – the main threat to Western Cape York endangered marine turtles.

The Pormpuraaw Rangers are members of the Western Cape Turtle Threat Abatement Alliance (WCTTAA), a partnership of five Indigenous Ranger groups who have reduced the rate of feral pig predation of marine turtle nests to approximately 10 percent on monitored beaches (down from around 90 percent in the year 2000).

WCTTAA Coordinator Kerri Woodcock said the donation would make a critical difference to the survival of the next generation of western Cape olive ridleys.