Emergency
Report a turtle
Keep your distance. Tell the Forest Department. Call or email us.
Do this now
Three steps, in this order
- Keep your distance.Do not touch, drag, water or move it. Keep people, dogs and lights back.
- Tell the Forest Department.The Tamil Nadu Forest Department range office for your stretch of coast. Only they may lawfully handle the animal.
- Call or email us.Give us the six things. Do not wait for our reply before you act.
Start here
Who to contact
First: Forest Department
Your range office
Tell the Tamil Nadu Forest Department range office for your stretch of coast. At night, the nearest coastal police outpost or fisheries landing centre can reach the range officer.
Then: call us
The SAVEaTURTLE team. Read out the six things below.
Or: email us
Send the six things below. We pass it to the Department contact for that beach.
December to March
A message on Instagram is often seen faster than email. It does not replace the Department.
We are not a rescue service
We have no vehicle, tank or vet on call. Nobody is guaranteed to arrive.
Before you touch anything
Do and never do
The rule under all of them: keep your distance.
Never
- Drag it. Not by a flipper, the neck or the shell edge.
- Pour water on it or put it in a bucket, tank or wet sack. It breathes air.
- Push a nesting female back. She loses the clutch.
- Dig, open or mark a nest, or move, count or photograph eggs. Markers lead dogs and egg poachers to it.
- Take it home, to a tank or to a vet. Possessing a Schedule I animal is an offence, even with good intent.
- Use flash or a torch on a nesting female or hatchlings. Light sends hatchlings inland.
- Let a crowd gather. Noise and feet make a female turn back before laying.
- Lift it by net, rope or float, or yank a tight line.
Do
- Stay back. From a nesting female, 20 metres, behind her.
- Shade it. A damp cloth on the shell only, never the head.
- Out of the waves only if it must. Two people, hands flat under the body, shell level, a few metres only.
- Keep people back, dogs on a lead and vehicles off the beach.
- If you need light, use red light, held low, pointed at the sand.
- Support the body of a tangled turtle. See caught in net or gear.
- Note six things and stay near it if it is safe.
Do this while you wait
Note six things
Type them into your phone before you call. Screenshot this list: it opens without signal.
- WhereBeach name, nearest landmark, and a GPS pin dropped at the animal, not where you parked. If you send only one thing, send the pin.
- WhenThe time you found it. If you saw it come ashore, that time too.
- SizeShell length in centimetres. No tape? Compare it with a phone, forearm or bottle and say which. An adult shell is about 60 to 70 cm.
- ConditionAlive or not, breathing or not, which flippers move. Any blood, cuts, cracked shell, hook, line, missing flipper or sunken eyes. Describe, do not guess.
- One photoFrom a few steps back, whole animal, something for scale, no flash. Do not lean over it or lift the head. Add one photo of any tracks.
- Your numberOne that stays on for two hours. Stay near the animal if it is safe.
Four cases
Find the one that matches
Most common
Stranded or injured
On the sand, still or moving oddly. Cuts, a damaged shell, a hook, a limp flipper.What to doMinutes matter
Caught in net or gear
Wrapped in net, rope or line, or dragging a float. The head may be under water.What to doStand back
A nest, or a female digging
A wide track from the water, a large turtle on dry sand, a pit, broken shells, or hatchlings.What to doStill a report
Dead on the beach
Report it anyway.What to do
Case one
Stranded or injured
Assume it is alive. Exhausted turtles can look dead.
- Watch for a full minute firstFrom 10 metres away. Look for the head lifting, the throat moving or a flipper twitching.
- Move it out of the waves, no furtherOnly if waves are rolling it and it cannot swim. Two people, hands flat under the shell, held level, a few metres up the slope. Never carry it up the beach or to a car.
- Shade it, keep it dry and stillBlock sun and wind with an umbrella, sheet or cardboard. A damp cloth on the shell only. Keep nose and eyes clear. No water.
- Turn it over if it is on its backSlowly, shell level. Then leave it alone.
- Leave hooks and line in placeDo not pull. Cut the trailing line long and hold or tape it so it cannot drag. A vet removes the rest.
- Tell the Department, then call or email usRead out the six things. Stay with the animal until the Department arrives or tells you what to do. Do not hand it to a passer-by.
Also note
Which flippers move. Whether the head lifts on its own. How far it is above the waterline. Whether the tide is coming in or going out.
Case two
Caught in net or gear
Act fast. A turtle in mesh cannot lift its head to breathe.
- Airway firstIf the head is under water or pinned by net, clear the head first.
- Hold the body, never the gearTake the weight under the shell. If it is heavy and in surf, wait for a second person.
- Cut, do not unwindCut from the loose end towards the body, blade away from the skin. Leave any wrap sunk into flesh for a vet.
- Protect your handsThe beak and front flippers can break a finger. Work from behind the shoulder. Alone in surf at night? Stay out of the water and call.
- Keep all the gearBag the net, line, hook, float or tag and hand it to the Department. It shows which fishery it came from.
- Report it even if it swims offNote the time, the direction it went and anything still on it.
Also note
Type of gear: gillnet, trawl net, rope, fishing line or old ghost net. Where it was wrapped: flipper, neck or shell. Any float and its markings.
If it is in your net at sea
Never gaff it, hook it or lift it by a flipper. Bring it aboard only if safe. Keep it shaded, dry and on its belly with the head clear. Release it head first, away from the gear, with the engine out of gear.
Then send us the position, gear and time. We will not make trouble for a boat that reports.
Case three
A nest, or a female digging
Nesting season on the Coromandel coast is December to March. She needs an hour with nobody near her.
- Stop where you areStay 20 metres back, behind her, out of her path to the sea. Sit down. Lights off. Phone screen down.
- Do not touch, measure or photograph her with flashA disturbed female returns to the sea without laying.
- Let her finish and leaveIt takes an hour or more. Do not follow her or stand between her and the sea.
- Mark the spot in your phone, not on the sandCount paces from a fixed landmark and drop a GPS pin. Leave nothing behind.
- Report it the same nightThen the Department can protect the nest or move it to a hatchery. A late report often means the nest is never found.
- If the nest is already openBroken shells, a dug pit, dog prints or tyre tracks. Do not tidy or rebury it. Photograph it from a step back and report a raided nest.
If hatchlings are out
Turn off every torch and phone screen. If you can, ask the owner of any building light facing the beach to switch it off.
Do not pick them up or carry them to the water. Keep dogs, birds and people away, let them crawl, and report it the same night with the time and pin.
Also note
Track direction and rough width. How far the pit is above the high-tide line. Any light facing the beach (hotel, streetlight, boat) and where it is.
Case four
Dead on the beach
Report it. Several deaths on one beach show a pattern.
- Do not move itNot into the water, out of the way or into a bag.
- Do not bury or burn itThe Department decides. Burial removes the chance to learn the cause of death.
- Photograph it from a distanceWhole animal from above, with something for scale. One of the head and one of the shell if you can without touching. No flash near hatchlings or a nesting female.
- Note what you see, not what you think happenedNet marks, cuts, a hook, a missing flipper, propeller cuts, a crushed shell. If a flipper has a tag, photograph it and note the number.
- Do not touch itDead wildlife carries bacteria. No bare hands, no children, no dogs. Wash your hands.
- Report to the Department and to usThe same six things: pin, time, size, condition, photo, your number.
Also note
State of the body: fresh, bloated, dried or bones. Whether the tide has covered it. Whether there are others nearby, and how far apart.
Identification
Is it an Olive Ridley?
Our work covers Lepidochelys olivacea only. Not sure? Report it anyway and send the photo.
- Size
- The smallest of them, around 60-70 cm of shell.
- Shell
- Olive-green, and close to heart-shaped from above.
- Status
- IUCN Red List: Vulnerable.
- Law
- Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 - Schedule I.
- Nesting here
- December to March on the Coromandel coast.
- Odds
- Roughly one hatchling in a thousand lives to come back.
After you report
What happens next
We are volunteers. With the Tamil Nadu Forest Department. We have no vehicle, tank or vet.
- A volunteer reads itMail to cleanbeach@saveaturtle.in reaches a volunteer. Animal reports go first.
- The Department decidesHandling, transport, treatment and disposal are their call. We pass on exactly what you sent.
- Someone may call youUsually to find the spot. Keep your phone on.
- You may not hear the outcomeWe do not yet publish response times or outcomes.
If it is on a beach where we run events
Tell us. We check it against our field code.
Questions
Common questions
Who do I call?
The SAVEaTURTLE team on 73058 07017. Also tell the Tamil Nadu Forest Department range office for your stretch of coast: only they may handle the animal.
Can I take the turtle to a vet myself?
No. Olive Ridley is Schedule I under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Only the Forest Department may handle, move or treat it. Contact them and stay with the animal.
It is night and the beach is empty. Should I still report?
Yes. Call, and also send the email so there is a written, timed record.
The turtle looks dead. Should I report it?
Yes. Exhausted or cold-stunned turtles often look dead. A real death still needs recording.
Should I put it back in the water?
Not if it is injured, cannot lift its head, or is nesting.
Can I keep an egg or a hatchling?
No. It is an offence under Schedule I.
Hatchlings are heading to the road. Do I carry them to the sea?
No. Turn off every light facing the beach first. Keep dogs, birds and people off them, stand back, and report it the same night.
I am outside Tamil Nadu. Can you help?
Contact your state forest department first. Email us and we will help where we can.
My photo is blurry. Send it anyway?
Yes. Never move closer for a better shot.
Do I have to give my name?
No. Give a phone number that stays on for two hours so the range officer can find the spot.
Next
Learn more
Our rules
Our field code
The rules we walk by.Read the codePrintable
Olive Ridley ID guide
Tracks, shell shape, hatchling size.Go to downloadsDecember to March
Turtle Walk
Learn the beach at night with our volunteers.Book a walk
Turtle in trouble?
Keep your distance. Report it.
Tell the Forest Department range office. Then call us or write to cleanbeach@saveaturtle.in.