Since 2007 Turtle Foundation has entered into a partnership with the Swiss charity named "TORTUGAS". Both organizations have quite similar histories and one common aim: the protection and conservation of sea turtles which are threatened by extinction.
TORTUGAS was formed in January 2002. This is how it happened:
One day Cécile Deiss and Matthias Grüninger from Switzerland decided to do some volunteer work instead of just going on a holiday. On the internet they came across a turtle protection project in Mexico that was looking for volunteers. So they went to Mexico for one month during which they worked night after night on a beach in Platanitos. At the time the project and the website was partly run by a Mexican organization that claimed to be non-profit. However, it was obvious that this organization was not trustworthy and as a result of this it was no longer allowed to be involved with the protection project in Platanitos. Their website disappeared and so did the volunteers. No website, no volunteers.
When in 2001 Cécil Deiss and Matthias Grüninger returned to Mexico to help at the camp they realized that they were the only foreign volunteers. Hence, they decided to set up their own website to find volunteers for the Mexican project. But they did not stop there. In fact, they started their own additional protection camp which by now is well established and currently saves several thousand hatchlings each year.
In 2007 TORTUGAS has decided to support the Turtle Foundation and its projects in Indonesia in addition to the project in Mexico.
Many thanks to TORTUGAS!