Susanne the Turtle

As you probably know, during the period of time July - October, turtles frequent the waters of Punta Cana as a safety place to lay their eggs. The most common species of turtles that frequent our country yearly are: Carey, Verde, Tinglar and Caguama. Carey turtles’ prefer to spawn their eggs in our paradisiacal Punta Cana as they believe they’re safe here. The hatchlings or baby turtles then follow the light of the moon as they leave their nests and sometimes encounter problems on their way to the ocean.This is why the environment in populated beaches needs to be prepared for the arrival of these turtles and help ensure the safety of the hatchlings as they may get distracted by light and lose their way.

The coasts of Puntacana have been monitored since 2009 during the spawn time. Even though since 2010 there were no gravid turtles in our beaches, something incredible happened. Apart from the turtles that did come this year, there was a successful spawn with no dead baby turtles. As if this wonderful surprise wasn’t enough, Puntacana received another unexpected visit all the way from the tropical south Atlantic. Her name is now ¨Susanne¨ she is a Leptochelys olivacea or better known as Olive Ridley turtle who somehow drifted out of her way. This brave turtle, missing one of her legs, somehow made it all the way to the coasts of Puntacana, far away from her waters probably facing deadly sharks and being an easy prey for other dangerous animals. Weak and dehydrated it is amazing how this strong turtle fought for her life until reaching our shore. Susanne was placed under treatment right away. A group of specialists from the Santo Domingo Aquarium are taking care of the Turtle who is still alive, as soon as she recovers plans are to give her a prosthesis of her lost limb. Even though she cannot be freed back into the ocean because she belongs into different waters, Susanne will be taken care of and live happy in the Santo Domingo aquarium.