Puri: Thousands of Olive Ridley hatchlings crawling their way to the sea has turned out to be a spectacular site for environment lovers on the beaches of Odisha. And this is not in Rushikulya of Ganjam or Gahirmatha in Kendrapara district. The rare sighting of baby turtles has been found now in coastal areas of Puri which have, of late, turned into a mass nesting ground for Olive Ridley turtles.
Over the years, it has been found that breeding and nesting of the turtles have doubled in a year on Chandrabhaga, Astaranga and Devi beaches in Puri district.
According to information from forest department, a record number of Olive Ridley turtles have laid eggs at Puri beach this year. The number of eggs hatched is also a record. More than 2000 nesting sites were found only on Devi beach. Similarly, more than 1000 nesting sites were sighted at other places in the district.
Other than this, the forest department has set up an artificial hatchery to produce turtles out of 1.22 lakh eggs. In the meantime, more than 76,000 baby turtles have gone into the sea till date.