In October 2020, Puritas with the guidance of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, undertook the “behold the turtle” project in Kirigal Bay beach in Kumana National Park.

At Kirigal Bay,  we do the ex-situ conservation (burying eggs in a hatchery) in a nest matching the exact dimensions of the original nest. Usually in sea turtle conservation centers, eggs are not buried in a nest with the dimension of original nest. This creates an impact on gender balance of sea turtles where females hatch at high temperatures and males at lower temperatures. Once the hatchlings emerge, we directly release them to the ocean without keeping them for further research purpose. It is believed that sea turtle hatchlings have energy for few hours which is required to reach the ocean. Keeping them for long hours in conservation tanks greatly reduces their chance of survival once released to the ocean. Hatchery is built cautiously to protect the eggs from natural predators such as foxes, wild boars, crabs, eagles and crows. And also, we are Maintaining the records of each nest, sea turtle we spot are kept for analysis purpose.