Monday, June 1, 2009

...And Me Without My Nail Polish!

This weekend we took a drive down to Fortescue, and while wandering around, found an incredible number of Horseshoe Crabs. Most of them were doing what two young, healthy Horseshoe Crabs do this time of year. For my mom, I'm certain that these two crabs had the benefit of clergy before they, well, you know...

See all those little green beady things? They're the eggs, and they were everywhere! We were wandering around the boat ramp area, and found this poor little guy. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but his tail is wedged in a link of rusted old chain.
When I say wedged, I mean wedged. I thought my sister was going to have to break his tail to get him free. Fortunately, she persevered and managed to gently free Mr. Crabby.

He is saying "Thank you, thank you...now put me down."
For over a half hour we worked on freeing at least 20 Horseshoe Crabs from under big pipes, rolls of chain link fence, and in other tight spots. If only I had my nail polish with me, I could have numbered them... Oh well, next time!

Now I have to get the chickens and their gear all packed up and head off to work. Happy Monday, everybody!

4 comments:

SissySees said...

Your sister, the crab rescuer! You (plural) are truly good to the animal kingdom.

Sue said...

What a nice way to spend the day, doing good deeds. Horseshoe crabs are neat creatures, like little prehistoric armoured vehicles.

Donna Lee said...

Aren't they on the protected species list? I know they are food for some of the migratory birds in the area. Good of you both to spend so much time freeing them. They're cute in their own way.

Criquette said...

Yay for your sister! I watched a fascinating documentary on Nova a couple of weeks ago about the importance of the horseshoe crabs to the survival of endangered migratory birds. Sadly, the horseshoes are becoming endangered because of over-fishing and manmade environmental problems (like the chain). I love that your sister took the time to save one and make a difference.

And yay! Chickies!