Tyremaker Pitches In to Help Endangered Leatherbacks

(Akron/Tire Review) Giti Tire is one of 10 corporate sponsors of the upcoming Great Turtle Race, an international sea turtle conservation event that will take place from April 16 to 29. The event is designed to raise awareness and funds for the endangered leatherback turtle.

Other sponsors include Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Plantronics, Travelocity, West Marine and Yahoo!, which is hosting The Great Turtle Race online at www.GreatTurtleRace.com. The Great Turtle Race is organized by Conservation International, the Costa Rica Ministry of Environment and Energy, The Leatherback Trust and the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) program.

The sponsored turtles have been equipped with satellite tags and are “racing” toward feeding areas south of the Galapagos Islands after nesting at Playa Grande in Costa Rica’s Las Baulas National Park, the primary nesting area for leatherbacks in the Pacific.

According to Giti Tire, the leatherback turtle is a 100 million-year-old sea animal that outlived the dinosaurs but is now dangerously close to extinction. Leatherback numbers have decreased at Playa Grande from thousands of nesting turtles 10 years ago to fewer than 100 in the last five years.

Starting April 5, viewers can go to www.GreatTurtleRace.com to follow the online race, and follow the turtles’ journey and learn about the obstacles they face – including fishing lines, nets, plastic bags and other debris, as well as other human-created hazards.