14 DAY TRIAL // A Cairn Terrier by the name of Ridley is anything but willing to make a career out of chasing its own tail or chewing its human's favorite shoes. On the contrary, the 8-year-old pooch works together with its owner, 54-year-old Donna Shaver from Texas, US to save endangered turtles from going extinct.
Daily Mail tells us that Donna is currently the chief of Padre Island National Seashore's sea turtle science and recovery division.
Together with Ridley and several other conservationists, she often patrols local beaches. The pooch sniffs out whatever turtle nests are around and then lets its master and the folks working with her know that it has found something worth digging for.
“We use Ridley when we can see tracks left by the female but they have disappeared in the soft sand and we cannot find the nests,” Donna says.
“Ridley knows it is important to me to find the eggs – he has watched me work with the eggs and hatchlings since he was a young pup,” she adds.
The conservationists' job is to pull the eggs out of the sand and transport them to incubators. The eggs are well taken care of and, once the baby turtles hatch, they are taken back to the beach and allowed to return to their home in the ocean.
Ridley's master estimates that, over the years, the dog has helped save the life of hundreds of turtles.