Friday, July 20, 2018

National Parks: Padre Island National Seashore -- Turtles Part 3

A lot of time, work, and volunteers help protect the endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle. And among the most helpful and hard working are the search and rescue dogs:


Just chillin on the beach with shades and fancy footwear. The shades protect the dogs eyes and the footwear protect the feet from debris and hot sand. Often, the search areas for hard to find nesting sea turtles are in the wild, undeveloped stretches of sand, miles and miles away from civilization.


These adorable and friendly dogs are part of a search and rescue team. These dogs belong to an awesome organization called K9s4conservation. They help find turtle nests that need protection from the predators and help locate nests that humans can't find. They are an extremely useful and wonderful organization. And the dogs they use are from shelters.


I love the turtle shell costume on the little dog.

So many people and organizations work together to help save the turtle. That includes the National Park Service, The Fish and Wildlife Service, a lot of scientists, environmental organizations, and volunteers from the US and Mexico and all over the world.


There was ample opportunity to educate the public on the plight of the sea turtles and how we can help protect and save all these endangered species.



One of the best ways to promote and educate the public about the plight of and ways to save the endangered turtles is through art. And I love art! These masterpieces were created by middle school and high school students that bring focus and celebrate the efforts to save the endangered sea turtles. These are some amazing art work from the children. Please click on the pic or right click and open in new tab/window to see a larger size of the pictures. These artworks are spectacular!




This is a really unique and creative panel below. Note how the top middle six pieces all combine to make one large tableau. They are all connected. Pretty cool!


It was wall to wall art. And I absolutely love it! So did the rest of the public as we oohed and ahhed over the pieces:





This piece made me stop in my tracks. I would love a shirt or t-shirt with that really cool print! Tribal and evocative!



This piece made me do a double take. It's a Pokemon! It's Squirtle!



More fantastic artwork. I love the use of vibrant color and the mix of materials.








No, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is definitely Squirt from Finding Nemo and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the panel below.



And now, close ups of some of my faves:

I love this tribal art stylized turtle! Definitely makes a great T shirt or large print wall hanging.



Awesome poster! Great message.



This one makes creative and innovative use of fabric! Yes, fabric!



And this one is all glitter! They put glitter over the paint! Sparkly! Luv it!



This is one of two pieces that are painted on bandanas! Pretty cool!



It's the Pride Turtle, all rainbow!



This is a marvelous 3 dimensional piece. They add what looks like string and cups and other objects to create this work. Very creative!



Another awesome shirt or t-shirt print! I love the tribal art style of this piece!



It's Sponge Bob Square Pants!



And finally, we come to the most intriguing and unique piece in all of the exhibition. This one made me pause and go, "What the...?"


No, your eyes are fine. That is a talon grabbing a hatchling! And I don't think it's giving that poor baby turtle a ride to the sea! While all the other art was happy or vibrant or had a positive message, this one was stark, dark, and terrifying! Very realistic and in your face about the rawness and savage reality of nature. I was captivated by the stunning image! I don't know whether this is a work of genius or a cry for help! I can't decide if I ought to give this kid kudos or an intervention! Probably both! This is some really dark and graphic, intense work here. And I love how the National Park embraced it and put it on display!

Art is a powerful medium to tell a story and get a message across. And these young artists did a magnificent job of focusing the attention and celebrating the hard work and efforts that are needed to save an endangered species. Our actions matter, no matter how small, they can have a big impact. So take action to protect our world and all the species in it. We only have one world we can live on. If we don't take care of the Earth, who will? We have had a huge impact on the ecosystem and the species all across the world. It's only natural and essential that we do better and clean up our messes and help make our world a better, cleaner, healthier, and nurturing place for all life on Earth. It's our home. Let's take care of it.

5 comments:

  1. It is not uncommon for large birds of prey to swoop in and grabs the little hatchings. The poor things. And once in the ocean there is the large sea life to hide from. Im not sure even how quickly they grow either. Like birds grow so fast and are adults before you know it.

    I too was adoring the pup in the turtle shell.

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    1. Maddie, I'm so grateful the Turtle Team knows how to protect the hatchlings from predators, especially those voracious birds! Thank goodness the nests are moved to a safe location and the hatchlings are protected once they emerge and head for the sea.

      In the sea, the hatchlings hide in floating thatches of seaweed. I used to complain about all the seaweed that often washed up and clutters the beach from time to time. But now that I know it's the hatchlings safe place until they're adults at ten years, I only wish that the seaweeds continue to thrive.

      Those dogs were amazing! And they're shelter dogs. The little one was explained to us as a Maltese, which was deaf in one ear, as a result of improper breeding and carelessness and greediness of a puppy mill. These poor dogs were rescued from a shelter and are very friendly. The small dog is the mascot. The big dog (and another one who was elsewhere) are special trained search and rescue dogs who've saved people and help find turtle nests in need of protection.

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  2. Oh, you picked out the ones that jumped to my attention, too: the tribal art turtle, the Pride turtle, and the mosaic of tribal art turtles.
    I'm sorry to say that Faith M's "turtle" (bottom image of the set which includes the tribal art one) is clearly a frog. And an angry one, too! Disqualified!

    The search and rescue nest-finding dogs are awesome!

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    1. IDV, Ha! Ha! That was my first thought, too, when I saw that mad critter! I was like, "Boy, that is one angry tree frog!" If looks could kill, that would be the most deadly species in all of the jungle. Makes you think the artist was one pissed off kid, and no one was brave (or stupid) enough to tell that insane child that this was a turtle art show, not an angry frog show.

      Those dogs were so friendly! I'm happy they were rescued from the shelter and now do amazing work rescuing people and turtles!

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