TURTLE EGGS ARE TO BE MOVED IN AN EFFORT TO ESCAPE OIL.

MIAMI:

In an unprecedented plan to save wildlife, volunteers will move tens of thousands of turtle eggs from oil-soaked beaches along the Gulf of Mexico to safety on Florida's Atlantic coast.

The eggs, which could number about 70,000, will be collected by hand, placed in special containers and driven in temperature-controlled trucks from mid-July.

''A plan like this is absolutely unprecedented and it would not be the choice of our scientists,'' said Patricia Behnke, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

In New Orleans, the Coast Guard and BP reached a settlement with environmental groups over protecting endangered sea turtles against the dangers of controlled burns.

Three environmental groups - the Centre for Biological Diversity, the Turtle Island Restoration Network and the Animal Defence League - had sued in federal court, charging that oil spill responders had taken inadequate precautions.

Under the settlement, the Coast Guard will convene a group of scientists to determine how best to ensure that no endangered sea turtles die during controlled burns.

''Sea turtles are already suffering catastrophically from the oil spill and it would be outrageous to add insult to injury by burning them alive in the spill clean-up effort,'' said Kieran Suckling of the Centre for Biological Diversity. ''It's a no-brainer to put sea turtle observers on the clean-up boats and whisk the turtles out of the oil pools before they're set on fire.''

''We've agreed to meet to work out the terms to make sure the turtles are protected,'' Jason Burge, a lawyer for the environmental groups said.