Earlier this year, Foundation Degree Animal Management students, Caitlin Oliver and Maegan Eves, spent part of their summer completing important international conservation field work for their Industry Module. Taking it upon themselves to get involved with Turtle conservation on the Greek island of Kefalonia, the students joined Wildlife Sense in their mission protect endangered sea turtles and their natural habitats.
Alongside their team, Caitlin and Maegan saved 1300 turtles during their time in Kefalonia. They learned how to measure and profile a beach, went net spotting and sand sifting, conducted a beach clean, helped with data entry, and went on harbour patrol, and undertook morning and night surveys monitoring nests
The trip also provided the students with important life skills. Maegan and Caitlin worked mostly independently on planning the trip, which involved a lot of organisation and going outside of their comfort zone. Travelling by yourself to a new country can be very daunting but Maegan and Caitlin embraced the challenge.
When speaking about the trip, Maegan said that she particularly enjoyed meeting people from all over the world, handling the hatchlings, getting physically fit and spending her down time exploring the island. Caitlin really enjoyed the night shifts, harbour shifts and making new friends.
Both the loggerhead and green sea turtles inhabit Greece, but only loggerhead sea turtles will lay their nests on the beaches. Both of these species are critically endangered due to several globally present threats - mainly human. Some of these threats include fishing nets, beach and coastal alterations, visitors on the beach, speed boats and plastic pollution.
At Wildlife Sense, they work with volunteers like Maegan and Caitlin to protect these loggerhead nests. When they find a new nest, they measure its distance to the sea, assessing the risk of damage from humans, weather and erosion. If the risk is significant, the team will then relocate the nest to a safer location, so that the eggs can incubate safely.
Sea turtles have played a vital role in maintaining the health of the world's oceans for more than 100 million years. From maintaining productive coral reef ecosystems to transporting essential nutrients across oceans. Beaches have a very fragile ecosystem in that they don't get many sources of nutrients. This is why it is so important to help preserve our wildlife.
Students at SMB College Group continue to impress us with their ambition and ability to go above and beyond for their education, we are all excited to see what Maegan and Caitlin will do next!
Keep updated and find out more about what it’s like to study Animal Management with SMB College Group at www.smbcollegegroup.ac.uk
