Attempts to Save 70,000 Gulf Turtle Eggs Close to Starting

Efforts to save about 70,000 turtle eggs from what is considered almost certain death for them if they are allowed to hatch and swim out into the oily water.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will attempt to coordinate the plan, which will call for heavy manual labor in order to save some of the eggs, which are scattered throughout about 800 nests buried in the sand along Alabama and Florida Panhandle beaches.

Nothing on this scale has ever been attempted, and there's no doubt the medicine could be very harsh on the turtles, as many are sure to die in transport.

The process was described in this way: "...the eggs will be carefully placed in specially designed Styrofoam containers, like coolers, along with sand and moisture to mimic the natural nest. The containers will then be trucked about 500 miles east to a temperature-controlled warehouse at Florida's Kennedy Space Center."

For those turtles which hatch and survive, they'll be placed on an individual basis on the east coast of Florida, where they'll be able to swim out into the Atlantic ocean, where there are no oil deposits from the spill in the Gulf.

Collecting the turtle eggs is scheduled to begin in about 9 to 10 days.