Thousands of endangered sea turtles released into the wild in Mexico Mexican environmentalists release 4,000 endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles into the wild on Mexico's Pacific coast after their eggs were hatched in incubators.

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Thousands of endangered sea turtles released into the wild in Mexico

Mexican environmentalists release 4,000 endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles into the wild on Mexico's Pacific coast after their eggs were hatched in incubators.

9:43AM BST 29 Sep 2012

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Mexican naval officers joined forces with conservationists and local children on Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday to release 4,000 turtle hatchlings into the ocean after they were born in a government facility.

The sale of turtle eggs is prohibited in Mexico, but that doesn't stop them being sold alongside turtle meat in markets on the coastal plains of Oaxaca, so the eggs were taken from their nests to protect them from looters and hatched in incubators.

Olive Ridley sea turtles have been listed as an endangered species by the World Conservation Union since 1986 because of declining numbers.

The authorities expect that only around 400 of the 4,000 turtles released will survive to be adults, due to threats to their habitat and natural predators.

Contains footage from Reuters.