GLOBE AND MAIL (Toronto, Ontario) 26 October 05 Endangered turtles hatch under armed protection
Mexico City, Mexico (Reuters): About 13 million endangered Olive Ridley turtles have hatched on Mexico's Pacific beaches and scuttled safely into the sea so far this year, protected from poachers by armed guards deployed by the government, environmentalists said yesterday.
While only 13,000 of those will live to adulthood and breed, biologists say the numbers are on par with 2004, and show they are winning the battle in Mexico, where men gulp down raw turtle eggs with salt and lime juice as a supposed aphrodisiac.