Sampson: A sea turtle's best friend
The newest member of the Gulf Coast Incident Management Team isn’t your typical employee.
For one thing, he has four legs.
During the month of August, the GCIMT employed the Conservation Canines program from the University of Washington Center for Conservation Biology to assist in the detection of sea turtle nests in Alabama.
In identifying the concerns of state and local environmental groups, as well as the Coast Guard’s regulatory responsibility to minimize impacts to listed species, the protection of turtle nests became a top priority for the GCIMT. Because the location and number of turtle nests was unknown in remote areas where response activities still needed to take place, the GCIMT worked closely with federal and state agencies to reduce the likelihood that response activities might adversely impact the sea turtle population.
“Starting in mid-May, amenity beaches throughout Florida and Alabama were monitored daily for sea turtle nests by volunteer groups searching for ‘crawls’ at sunrise,” said Janice Engle, an endangered species liaison with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “In more remote locations, however, daily monitoring for crawls, as well as clean-up activites, could not occur because of closures due to the migratory bird nesting season. This presented a challenge for the response: how would we know if a sea turtle nest was in harm’s way once bird nesting was over and clean-up activities resumed?”
The solution? Sampson, a six-year old Labrador retriever.
Sea turtles lay their eggs in holes, called clutches, between May and August anywhere on the beach from the high tide line to the dunes and incubation lasts about two months. The use of heavy cleaning equipment on the beach has the potential to damage nests. Known nests are flagged and the use of equipment in those areas is suspended. However, unknown nests are hidden from the naked eye and virtually impossible to detect. With the help of his trainer, Heath Smith, Sampson aided responders in locating, documenting and avoiding unknown nests on West Point Island, Alabama.
To prepare for his new role as a turtle’s best friend, Sampson did his homework. The USFWS collected and mailed shell fragments from hatched nests to introduce Sampson to the scent before he even arrived in Alabama. Smith and Sampson, with the assistance of USFWS biologist Jim Earley, then completed several weeks of on-the-ground training in the Gulf Shores area of Alabama and the Gulf Islands National Seashore area of Florida. Using “evidence” eggs provided by USFWS Law Enforcement to simulate nest scenarios, Sampson fine-tuned his nose to the invisible buried treasure. Ultimately, training success was tested on known nests in Florida, and then Sampson was assigned his first field survey.
Smith, Sampson, and Earley began their survey work on West Point Island in late August. Catching the boat at 11 p.m., and working until daylight to beat the heat, the group identified eight locations in four days where Sampson alerted to sea turtle nest scent. As the turtles crawl to or from the sea, they leave a unique pattern in the sand called a crawl. Two of the West Point Island locations previously had turtle crawls noted and Sampson located them precisely with no visible clues.
Canines have been used to precisely locate freshly laid Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle clutches in Texas, but methods for detecting older nests once wind and weather obscured all surface clues have not been developed successfully before this project.
Modifications to nesting areas and commercial exploitation of the reptile have contributed to the dwindling numbers of sea turtles on the planet today. According to the USFWS, all six of the turtle species that are found in U.S. waters are either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. However, with the help of concerned citizens along the Gulf Coast, an estimated 24,529 hatchlings safely entered the Gulf of Mexico between 2003 and 2010.
Several areas surveyed by Sampson and Smith are isolated and rarely visited, with little known understanding of sea turtle use. This unique opportunity to find and document nests on West Point Island has provided new data to help broaden the knowledge of sea turtle nesting on the Gulf Coast.
Though the team wrapped up their beach patrols in early September, Sampson made quite an impression as a model employee.
“Sampson was great,” Earley said. “He never complained, he was never late to work and he always had a smile on his face.”
To view photos of Sampson, click on the links below: