BRADENTON BEACH – Upon seeing a group of six people digging around a marked turtle nest at the south end of Coquina Beach on Saturday, two early morning walkers did exactly what they were supposed to do – contact authorities.
“We saw a group of people digging with their hands into the nest. They were laughing and taking selfies and when we told them that it was illegal they became really rude,” one of the observers said.
The observers, Charlotte and Teri, contacted the Bradenton Beach Police Department non-emergency line.
“If they would have said, ‘Sorry, we didn’t know,’ I would have walked away, but instead they continued on to disturb two more nests,” Teri said.
An officer came out and contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
“There were four women and two men,” Charlotte said. “One of the women was put in handcuffs.”
After about an hour, FWC officers arrived, the women said.
“FWC showed up and I showed them the nests and he said he wanted me to sign the report,” Teri said. “When the other FWC gentlemen came over, they had a conference and said I didn’t need to sign a report, because there was no wet sand, even though you can clearly see the nest they disturbed.”
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella was notified of the incident and sent a volunteer out to check the nests.
“What that tells me about the wet sand is that they didn’t dig too deeply because the sand below the surface is wet,” she said. “But you should never put your hands inside a turtle nest enclosure.”
Sea turtles are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act and Florida’s Marine Turtle Protection Act. According to Florida law, no one may harass, disturb, take, move, sell, damage, destroy, injure or kill any marine turtle, hatchling, egg or nest.
In an email request by The Sun for comment on the incident, FWC Public Information Officer Bradley Johnson wrote the following:
“On July 13, 2024, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Bradenton Beach Police Department, and an FWC biologist responded to a report of a sea turtle nest disturbance on Coquina Beach. Once on scene FWC officers and biologists surveyed the nests and did not locate any evidence of the nests having been disturbed. FWC officers also spoke to the individuals who were near the nests and educated them on sea turtle nests and their protections.”
Mazzarella said the two women did the right thing by contacting authorities.
“Each of the three cities has a non-emergency telephone line,” she said. “The number for FWC is posted at each nest.”
If you see people disturbing turtles, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922), or call:
• City of Anna Maria code enforcement — 941-708-6130, ext. 111.
• City of Bradenton Beach code enforcement — 941-778-1005, ext. 227.
• City of Holmes Beach code enforcement — 941-778-0331, ext. 260.
