Youth Commits To Sea Turtle and Ocean Health

When Casey Sokolovic was 8-years-old, a field trip  to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on Topsail Island, North Carolina, inspired the 3rd grader to make a difference.  

Now 15-years-old Casey Sokolovic has racked up a page of awards and recognitions (with her premier award coming this May--the 2014 Christopher Benchley Youth Award).  Her mission, is Love A Sea Turtle (L.A.S.T.), a project  that raises awareness of ocean conditions and an "educational outreach program and an outdoor environmental summer science camp that traces the path of fresh water to the coast," as noted on the Love a Sea Turtle website.

During this year's  MLK Day of Service, L.A.S.T. organized "..over 125 volunteers – 98 were Boys & Girls Club members! Together, we cleared and cleaned trails, removed invasive species, constructed a fossil pit, assembled fishing line recycling containers, and shared a Monday Meal," says Casey's blog.

Watch these baby sea turtles rush to the ocean

About sea turtles from Defenders of Wildlife

• Sea turtles are one of the Earth's most ancient creatures. 
• The seven species that can be found today have been around for 110  million years, since the time of the dinosaurs. 
• The sea turtle's shell, or "carapace" is streamlined for swimming through the water. Unlike other turtles, sea turtles cannot retract their legs and head into their shells. 
• Their color varies between yellow, greenish and black depending on the species.

The Singing Elephant Seals of Piedras Blancas

The Three Elephant Seal Tenors of Piedras Blancas

Northern Elephant Seal weaners (pups that were born this winter and are now weaned from their mothers) can be heard singing, yapping, barking, and just raising a ruckus on the beach as they teach themselves how to swim and dive.  Once they master their basic skills, each weaner will leave--on its own time schedule--for its first six months, or so, at sea.

The next time they begin to return to the beach where they were born will be late summer and early fall.