Margate Police assist with the Margate Terrapin Rescue Project.
MARGATE – Those splats of red you see along the Margate causeway are the remains of female diamondback terrapins looking for higher ground to lay their eggs.
This is the time of year the terrapins seek to lay their eggs on higher ground away from the water. Volunteers of the Margate Terrapin Project work diligently during the month of May to reinforce the corregated half pipes they installed along the roadway to prevent the terrapins from getting into harm’s way.
Volunteers don’t know how, but some of the terrapins manage to slip through the cracks or get over the pipes, and unfortunately, speeding drivers urgently trying to get to their beach houses squish them into pulp.
Volunteers are sending out a reminder to drivers along the Downbeach Express to slow down, pay attention and avoid running them over. Anyone who sees a terrapin crossing the road, can move them them across the road in the direction they were heading.
