Book Review

            The Book “Fire in the Turtle House” by Osha Gray Davidson is about the lives of sea turtles, an ancient and magical creature. Sea turtles numbers are dropping drastically. This used to be due to over hunting and use of turtles. When people first arrived there were turtles flooding the seas so people thought that there would be an infinite amount of them so they over consumed. George Balazs, a junior biologist started fighting for the protection of sea turtles and the numbers rose. But, more recently, sea turtles have fallen due to an un-curable and deadly disease called FP, or fibropapillomatosis. This disease causes large tumors to grow all over the turtle’s body which can obstruct their vision, or make them unable to swim or survive in ocean waters. Not much can be done about this disease because it is hard to cure the affected turtles when they’re far out in the ocean. After lots of investigation, there is still not much known about the disease.

            Not only does this book deal with the fates of endangered species it talks about other species that hive died off. Specifically, how humans have affected and contributed to the downfall of species and their habitats. Animals like certain carrier pigeons and members of the manatee family were wiped out completely by humans. The book makes people aware of many effects that humans have on endangered species and just how important it is to save these turtles.