Battle brewing between turtle rescuers, Florida’s wildlife commission

Tensions are rising between turtle rescue organizations and the Florida Wildlife Commission that oversees their work.

Tensions are rising between turtle rescue organizations and the Florida Wildlife Commission that oversees their work – so much so that the unpaid volunteers may soon be banned from helping to save the reptiles. Every year between March and October, multiple species of sea turtles, mainly loggerheads, swim up to Florida's shores to lay their eggs. But once the hatchlings emerge, they face a multitude of obstacles, many of them human-made, and the majority of them in Broward County never make it to the ocean, local activists say. To help, turtle rescue groups stake out the nests, deter residents and tourists from interfering and collect the just-hatched turtles into buckets to move them into the "splash zone," near the water, Richard WhiteCloud, founder and director of Sea Turtle Oversight Protection (STOP), told ABC News. But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has made clear it plans to stop permitted organizations in Broward County from continuing to help hatchlings find their way into the ocean.