Date: August 8, 2003
Contact: David Godfrey
Phone: (325) 373-6441
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA – The Outdoor Life Network’s highly acclaimed show, Wild Odyssey, will feature the work of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC) in a 30-minute Program broadcasting nationally at 11:30 AM on August 14th and 26th, and September 5th. The nonprofit CCC, based in Gainesville, Florida, is the world’s oldest sea turtle research and conservation organization.
In an episode titled “The Amazing Life Journey of Green Sea Turtles,” the show travels with CCC Director David Godfrey from the remote black sand beaches of Tortuguero, Costa Rica, to the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge on the central Atlantic coast of Florida, and back again. Viewers are introduced to the great mystery of the green turtle’s open-ocean navigation. These amazing sea creatures journey hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles from the tropical beaches where they were born to the shores and inland waters of Florida, where they grow to maturity before returning to breed and lay eggs at the same beaches where they were hatched.
Florida’s developed coastline and the remote beaches of Costa Rica are biologically linked through the natural history of green sea turtles. Wild Odyssey was filmed on location at CCC’s sea turtle research station on the edge of the rainforest in Tortuguero and in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon near Sebastian Inlet. The show begins by following Godfrey and a team of CCC researchers as they conduct their annual sea turtle research and protection Program in Tortuguero. After following newborn hatchlings to the water, the show migrates with the turtles to the Florida coast, where Godfrey joins University of Central Florida professor, Dr. Llew Ehrhart, and his students as they capture and tag juvenile green sea turtles in the Indian River Lagoon. The show includes extensive footage of green turtles foraging on reefs and in the lagoons of Florida’s Atlantic coast, swimming in the open ocean, and laying eggs on the volcanic sand beaches of Costa Rica.
“The Outdoor Life Network has captured the beauty and wonder of these oceanic nomads,” said Godfrey. “Hopefully, people will watch the Program and realize the importance of protecting our marine and coastal habitats for sea turtles and all manner of sea creatures that depend on them. It is especially important that people understand the global role Florida plays in the survival of sea turtles.”
The Sea Turtle Conservancy, formerly known as the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, is a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 organization based in Florida with offices and projects in several other locations. The Sea Turtle Conservancy is the oldest and most accomplished sea turtle organization in the world. Since its founding in 1959, the Sea Turtle Conservancy’s work has greatly improved the survival outlook for several species of sea turtles. The Sea Turtle Conservancy has as its mission the protection of sea turtles and the habitats upon which they depend. To achieve its mission, the Sea Turtle Conservancy uses research, habitat protection, public education, community outreach, networking and advocacy as its basic tools. These tools are applied in both international and domestic programs focusing on geographic areas that are globally important to sea turtle survival. For more information, visit the STC website atwww.conserveturtles.org or call (800) 678-7853.