Turtles Lured to Disco Death in Greece

Friday, September 5, 2003

(10:14 AM ET) (14:14 GMT)

Reuters

Spin-offs of tourism, including jobs in remote areas, are often positive. But others -- like roads through African jungles or disco lights in Greece -- can be a threat to the environment underpinning the very rationale for a park.

LAGANAS, Greece -- Reuters
Disco lights are luring baby turtles to their deaths on the fringes of a Greek marine park in the Mediterranean Sea.

Environmentalists say that rare loggerhead turtles scramble out at night from eggs in the sand on beaches in the west Greek island of Zakynthos and instinctively head for the brightest horizon -- normally the white foam of waves under the stars.

But neon lights from discos and cafes along the back of the beach at Laganas, built for tourists who also go for boat trips in the bay to try to spot turtles, are often fatally brighter.

"Some turtles crawl up the beach the wrong way and die of dehydration or get eaten by seabirds or dogs," said Anders Kofoed, a Danish volunteer working for the Greek conservation group Archelon. "The park isn't working properly."

* Better than mining

* Whale watching

(More: CNN.com)

2003 © Reuters, Ltd.

Such “party animals”! And once they get into break-dancing, they’re on their backs and, well – then it’s just a matter of time.

Sorry about that...
Dan