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[kakariki]

Originally Posted by pete12

what is that stuff concrete or sumthing

It is tubeworm which is as -Peter said is usually found only in saltwater. When you break that stuff off, you can see the skinny, brown worms inside..real icky. Eventually the turtles get so covered they are literally imprisoned and can't feed or the shells get so heavy they cant move. They are then preyed upon by birds, foxes etc. Some are lucky enough to be found by one of the people who now patrol regularly. Then they are scraped and kept in fresh water. We change the water two or three times a day to start with, then once a day seems to be enough. Not only do we have to remove the crust and de-salinate them, some are weak from hunger so we certainly have a job ahead. I can't give exact numbers cos there are a couple of groups doing this but I could safely guess we have reached the thousands. Next problem could be what are we going to do if the lake doesn't recover? The river will almost certainly be next so where will the turtles go??