By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL | The New York Times | November 13, 2009
In Playa Junquillal, Costa Rica, so-called leatherback boys carry newly hatched turtles in baskets to the ocean, where the freed turtles make a dash for the water. Photo Credit: Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
PLAYA GRANDE, Costa Rica — This resort town was long known forLeatherback Sea Turtle National Park, nightly turtle beach tours and even a sea turtle museum. So Kaja Michelson, a Swedish tourist, arrived with high expectations. “Of course we’re hoping to see turtles — that is part of the appeal,” she said.
But haphazard development, in tandem with warmer temperatures and rising seas that many scientists link to global warming, have vastly diminished the Pacific turtle population.
Read on: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/science/earth/14turtles.html