Photo AP: In this Indian city, local people patrol the beaches at night to protect the sea turtles in the process of extinction

For almost four decades, residing in the coastal city of southern India Chennai At night they patrolled the beaches illuminated by the moon trying to protect the sea turtles and their puppies that for millennia have nested along these coasts.

Hungry dogs, locals looking for a snack and disorienting lights are among the dangers that face the Ridley olive turtles and their eggs, which can take up to 60 days to dodge. Many turtles are caught off the coast of fishing networks, which this year only have killed hundreds of them in the area.

However, local residents collected and contributed to protecting more than 260,000 turtle eggs this year Tamil Nadu State, whose capital is Chennai.

Patigliers scan the beaches in search of turtles or small sand mounds that could indicate that the eggs are buried below. When they find a cache of eggs, they transport them to a protected area and supply them to the same depth that have been initially found. This is crucial since temperatures influence what sex the turtles will be. The researchers say that the increase in temperatures from the heating of the planet caused by man is resulting in a fewer number of male turtles.

“We cover a lot of land, at least 30 kilometers (18 miles), bursting in smaller groups and every group that walks for seven or eight kilometers,” said a volunteer named Melvin, who goes only with his name and has worked with turtles conservation groups for several years.

The patrols start around midnight every day during the nesting season of turtles, ranging from December to April.

The Associated Press saw a volunteer carefully digging in a possible nesting site until his hand was deep in the sand, where he found the eggs. He and other volunteers brought the eggs carefully, counting a total of 137. They were placed in a cloth bag and brought to the safe refuge of a nearby nursery.

“I come during my summer holidays in Chennai just to do it,” said Yajur Karthik, an 11 -year volunteer from the neighbor Bengaluru City that has arrived in the last two years to help protect turtles.

Karthik said he believes it is important to help to keep turtles, given the growing number of challenges that face these ancient creatures.

“Only one in a thousand turtles survives,” he said.

___

The climatic and environmental coverage of Associated Press receives financial support from multiple private bases. AP is the only responsible for all content. Find the AP standards to work with Philanthropies, a list of supporters and coverage areas financed on ap.org.