Today is World Sea Turtle Day, and we are thrilled to introduce a very special new member of our conservation team whose amazing sense of smell is actually saving sea turtles.
Meet Dory! She is a shelter-rescued pup we are training to locate rare sea turtle eggs in nests on the beach. Dory is following in the paw prints of Captain Ron, expert dog trainer Pepe Peruyero's adorable beagle who has worked with us for the last three years. Captain Ron has helped the Animals, Science and Environment Team find nearly 100 turtle nests from three species of sea turtles at Disney's Vero Beach Resort. While it can take our human team members 30 minutes or more to find the eggs within a large, sandy sea turtle nest, Dory can pinpoint this spot in as little as 30 seconds!
Dory is already spending time on the beach detecting eggs within loggerhead sea turtle nests, and when challenged to find eggs under the massive piles of sand left by a couple of leatherback sea turtles, Dory pointed them out in mere seconds. We could not be more proud of Dory, and we know she is equally as excited to continue all the great work her buddy Captain Ron started in this important conservation mission.
You can see Dory working on the beach at Disney's Vero Beach Resort this summer (Wednesday-Saturday), and both dogs will make a special appearance at Tour de Turtles July 29!
To follow Dory and her adventures, visit the Disney's Animals, Science and Environment Facebook page. To learn more about sea turtles and Disney's conservation work, visit DisneyAnimals.com.
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