Tourists interrupt sea turtles laying eggs in a big way

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If you think laying eggs is difficult for turtles, think about doing that while people put their kids on their backs and take selfies. This was the issues facing a group of sea turtles in Costa Rica, who usually expect quiet scenery for the annual event.

Tourists overran Ostional Beach in Costa Rica during the first week in September, a time when the olive ridley sea turtles annually come to lay eggs, the New York Times reports. As tour guide Yamileth Baltodano described, the whole ordeal "was a mess."

According to the Times, the area is usually nearly impossible to reach unless you’re with a tour guide on a four-wheel-drive vehicle. But this year, with the help of El Nino, the river leading to the beach had dried up, allowing thousands of tourists to swarm the beach in order to see the turtles making it to shore.

The turtles’ nesting season, which happens from August through October, usually links up with Costa Rica’s rainy season, creating the barrier between the turtles and tourists.

With the next arrival of turtles happening Oct. 4, the Times reports an additional amount of police officers, security guards, and Coast Guard members will be in the area to keep this from happening again.

While tourists disrupted the first wave, Mauricio Méndez, deputy director of the Tempisque Conservation Area, says it didn’t keep the turtles from laying a few eggs. “A tornado can be happening, and they will continue to deposit the eggs, carve it out, nest, and go back to sea,” he said.