As a tourist(L) watches, staff member an

SAN JOSE DEL CABO, MEXICO: As a tourist(L) watches, staff member and local expert Vidal Castillo(C) and Biologist Leticia Gamez(Rt) with the Campamento Tortuguero turtle hatchery near the Presidente Intercontential Hotel in San Jose Del Cabo, BCS, Mexico, reach in to deep holes to scoop up hatched Olive Ridley(Golfina) baby turtles(stacked at L) also removing their egg shells 15 Oct 2006 from nests they dug months ago and filled with captured unhatched turtle eggs. The biologist led turtle program sends scouts, like Castilo and Gamez, out on nightly patrols to find female turtles laying eggs in their natural nesting areas on the beaches of San Jose del Cabo, tag the mother and returns her to the sea and then take her eggs to a protected hatchery(seen here) where chances of hatching are greatly improved. The turtle hatchery releases about 30,000 turtles a year with local citizens and tourists participating in the release of hundreds and hundreds of hatchlings a day in October, the peak month for the Olive Ridley(Golfina) turtle. Unfortunately, only 1 in 1000 baby turtles survive the wilds of the ocean after being released, but the Mexican government sponsored program with the cooperation of over 20 local hotels has greatly increased the odds of the eggs even hatching. The female turtle can have upto 5 nests a year, with about 100 eggs each time, and she returns to the same place on the beach each time. AFP Photo Paul J. Richards (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)