Confused sea turtles march into Italian restaurant

About 60 newly hatched sea turtles lost their way during their ritual passage to the sea and marched into an Italian restaurant instead, a conservation worker said on Monday.

The baby turtles—who ended up under the tables of startled diners at the beachside restaurant—were probably thrown off track and lured by the eatery’s bright lights, said Antonio Colucci, who was called to help rescue the group.

“They saw the artificial lights and took the wrong route,” said Colucci, who works on a turtle-monitoring project for the conservation group WWF.

“The diners were at first quite curious and then someone alerted the coastal authorities.”

The stranded turtles, who had hatched on a beach in the southern Italian region of Calabria, were released into the sea.

Female sea turtles nest on beaches and their offspring instinctively head to the sea after hatching from their eggs.—Reuters