The first few weeks of life are anything but easy for baby sea turtles. Moments after hatching, they have to find the moon and orient themselves towards the oceans and start crawling. It might be a short waddle from the beach to the sea, but many sea turtles don’t make the journey. Turtles are prone to get confused and crawl towards other light sources, like porch or street lights, which can be a fatal mistake for them. Beyond the perils of this initial journey, sea turtles are threatened by poachers and environmental factors that are causing their population numbers to drop drastically.

Thankfully, Sea Shepherd is working to help the sea turtle population recover through Operation Jairo. This special operation is focused on protecting the threatened sea turtle population of Costa Rica’s Pacure Beach. In this video, Sea Shepherd volunteers are helping to guide the new hatchlings into the water to safely embark on their journey. This is just the first challenge these tiny turtles will have to face in life, but thanks to these kind people they now have a fighting chance to take on all the others they come their way!