Mike,

As per your message below: Simply having a position in one of these
agencies neither guarantees that the person is actually qualified to do the
job, nor committed or caring enough to do it right. In my experience, a
small number of very dedicated (and usually underappreciated) individuals
put in the lion's share of genuine effort while the rest of the staff is
simply putting in their time.

My wife works for a state agency that "supposedly" is there to help people
with health issues and even save lives. In truth, they are much more
interested in interoffice / interagency politics and "one-upmanship" (not
to mention getting a hefty paycheck) rather than doing the job we, the
taxpayers, are paying them to do. The effort to do the job the way it needs
to be done is far too demanding, so they turn a blind eye -- how
convenient. The stories I could tell would make you so angry . . .

We cannot paint everyone with the same brush, but it only takes a few
experiences like yours to see why we are in the mess we're in today. Thank
goodness there was at least one person on the scene who cared: You! For
that, my wife and myself and all the sea turtles out there thank you!

Best regards,
Jim

>While I was snorkeling along the Melbourne coast looking for shells, my
>wife found a leatherback turtle hatchling stranded on the beach. Being
>only a couple blocks from a turtle recovery center and the turtle not
>looking to be in the best of shape (we found it on its back, dried out and
>away from the water) we decided to run it over to the rescue center, where
>they had tanks to store turtles until they are healthy enough to return to
>the sea.  When we arrived, the center was closed for the day. I called the
>Fish and Wildlife center and they gave me a number of someone to call.
>
>This person I contacted was very helpful and suggested I try to put the
>hatchling near the water to see if its instincts would kick in and send it
>out to sea. He said if this didn't work to try swimming him out past the
>breakers and watch to see if it could swim on its own. It didn't look like
>it could swim well, so with no luck with either of these scenarios, I
>tried calling Fish and Wildlife back.
>
>On the second call, I contacted someone who told me and I quote. "Most
>turtles die anyway so just toss him into the ocean." I asked him to
>contact someone at the rescue center. He said he would try but it was
>obvious from his tone that he didn't want to be bothered. I told him that
>I would keep the hatchling in about 1/4" of sea water to keep him moist
>until I heard back from him. He then said I could be arrested for having
>him in my possession. I gave him my hotel room and phone numbers and said;
>"Well I guess I'll take my chances until someone calls me back or picks
>him up."
>
>Well nobody ever called back or came by so I ended up swimming him far out
>into the ocean after dark when the seagulls had stopeed hunting and
>released him.
>
>It seems that if the government feels it is so important to protect
>endangered species, (and I agree that they should) they should also have
>plans to save the species they can, while they are still alive. I believe
>they do have some sort of plan but if there own employees don't care, how
>effective can the laws be?
>
>Any suggestions out there to help improve on this problem?
>
>Best regards,
>
>
>Mike Schenk


Jim Miller
Tallahassee, Florida
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