Last week wildlife officials approved an unprecedented plan that could save thousands of sea turtles impacted by the BP oil spill, and a Georgia rescue group is helping out.

When sea turtles hatch they head straight for the ocean. Wildlife experts worry that along the Gulf Coast they could come into contact with the oil and dispersants with no chance of survival.

That’s why the Georgia Wildlife Rescue Association will join with other groups in relocating up to 800 sea turtle nests from Gulf Coast beaches in Florida and Alabama. The Association’s Chet Powell says they’ll help collect eggs about three days before they hatch.

“They’ll be flown to the Atlantic Coast in Florida and the incubation will finish there and then they’ll be released on the Atlantic Coast of Florida.”

The U.S. fish and wildlife service says these extraordinary measures are needed to try and save up to 60-thousand hatchlings of endangered Loggerhead, Green, Leatherback, and Kemps Ridley Sea turtles.

Tags: sea turtles, Georgia Wildlife Rescue Association, BP oil spill, United States Fish and Wildlife Service