San Salvador, also known as James or Santiago, has thousands of introduced animals: goats, wild pigs, rats, donkeys. It has already lost the population of land iguanas that once inhabited the island. But there are still tortoises -- giants that could tell us about the peaceful past of this archipelago. Those giants keep breeding, keep trying to survive.
Their eggs are collected by the park rangers and taken to a safer place, the breeding center of the Galapagos National Park Service in Puerto Ayora. The eggs are incubated and when they hatch, the young are kept at the park for their first five years. Once they are older than five, they will be big enough to not have any predators. Then they are sent back.
Hundreds have been repatriated already. Nothing can be more inspiring that thinking about those healthy tortoises that will have the chance to survive and preserve their kind. Today the moon was shining; the moon knew, as many of you know, that it is thanks to you, those who care, that islands like San Salvador have a good future.
