Suzan Lakhan Baptiste – Conservationist and Protector of the Leatherback Turtle – Our CNN Heroes Award Nominee 2009
Suzan Lakhan Baptiste – Conservationist and Protector of the Leatherback Turtle – Our CNN Heroes Award Nominee 2009
Imagine if you will a dedication beyond the absolute call of duty and in an effort that very few people know or even care about. Speak of conservation in Trinidad and Tobago and you perhaps will hear about Molly Gaskin and her continuous valiant efforts at the Point-a -Pierre Wildfowl Trust in the south.
We today are going to inform you about someone on the other side of Trinidad who has for the past 20-plus years been the driving force behind the organization known as ‘Nature Seekers’ at Matura on the North Eastern coast and who has, together with her team, been tirelessly patrolling the 8 mile Orosco-Matura Beach in an effort to protect and conserve the Leatherback turtle.
Come every March to late August, Suzan Lakhan Baptiste has, with her team, organized and participated in beach patrols; monitoring, tabulating information for research and protecting the huge leatherback Turtles that come up on the beach to lay their eggs and then, in late season, watching over leatherback hatchlings as they rise out of their nests in the sand and make their way to the water….and to future uncertainty.
Only one in every hundred will return as adults [some twenty years later] to repeat the process of laying the precious eggs – covering them with sand and returning several times every season to lay more eggs [up to 800 in total]. The odds weigh heavy against survival. Of 100-125 eggs laid each time only 60% hatch and even less climb out of the sand to scamper through a host of predators – vultures from above, land animals on the beach and marine hunters in the sea. These defenseless hatchlings have only one salvation when under attack in the water – lay still – before resuming their trip to as far as the other side of the world before returning to the same beach in Matura in future years to lay eggs.
Understand this process and you begin to understand the role that Suzan Lakhan Baptiste has played over the past twenty years. Up all night until 3.00 am ensuring that vultures and land predators and also those of the human kind don’t attack the large mother leatherbacks, their eggs, nor the hatchlings on their way to the sea for the very first time. Now multiply this activity by 200 days per year and then by 25 years of performing this wonderful conservation effort.
Suzan is the first to tell you that the early days were rife with slaughtered carcases, stolen eggs and today thanks to the efforts of her organization - Nature Seekers- at Matura, no incidents of slaughtered leatherbacks or robbed egg nests have been reported in the last 8-10 years.
Another success is that of the turnaround in the attitudes of people in the vicinity of the protected beach many of whom are themselves volunteers on the beach patrols. To its credit The Trinidad Government Ministry supports the effort and admission to the beach during laying/nesting season is by permit only….and only with tour guides all drawn from the community.
CNN Heroes Award – 2009
We first heard about Suzan Lakhan Baptiste several years ago, but it is within recent times that she has been in the spotlight as a nominee in the CNN Heroes 2009 Award competition. Suzan has for her conservation work with Leatherback turtles at Matura - been short-listed in the final group of 40 nominees drawn from thousands of nominees for various endeavours worldwide. Already interviewed by Larry King of CNN, and the recipient of hundreds of contacts and e-mails, Suzan remains unphased by all the recent attention. We found her very centered, unassuming and extremely knowledgeable about her subject matter – the conservation and protection of the giant Leatherback turtle.
We spent a relaxed August afternoon with her at her home which doubles as a guest house and dormitory for scores of foreign based university students and people working or interested in conservation efforts during the nesting season. Suzan gave us an interview which we video recorded and have uploaded here in two parts.
We then proceeded to the Orosco Matura beach where we captured some remarkable footage of hatchlings and further gained insight to dedication that Suzan displays as she literally ran after, and chased, some birds that were targeting several hatchlings for their next meal.
Join with us in wishing Suzan Lakhan Baptiste every success in her continuing efforts toward the conservation and protection of the Leatherback. She is already a hero in her community and to us in Trinidad and Tobago .
Good Luck Suzan ! - our nominee for CNN Heros Award 2009