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Auto Parts the Rest of the Story the loggerhead sea turtle outlived the dinosaurs. And yet, ironically, the species may not survive the carelessness of humankind. For 150 million years, this gentle giant has roamed the deep, visiting sandy shores only to bury eggs and lumber away. An arduous process at best. But today, the favored hatching ground of the Atlantic loggerhead, a mile and a half stretch of sand on the GRE island of Zakynthos, is becoming increasingly unsafe for the creatures. And yet, from the human race which threatens the sea turtle with extinction, a friend has emerged. Her name is Lily Vanitsilos, otherwise known as the Turtle Lady. For Lily, the Greek islands have always been magical places. She was born on the island of Hydra, south of Athens, learned to dive there when she was but a girl. Even after she grew up and married and moved to a splendid home in Athens, Athens, the Greek islands remained her favorite vacation spots, the islands of Zakynthos in particular. And yet, only recently, in the past half dozen years, has Liliban Itzelos become a tireless champion of the loggerhead sea turtle. She has seen how tourism and unregulated construction have ravaged so many of her once enchanted islands. She knows that if Laganas beach on Zakynthos is similarly exploited, the already dwindling numbers of the loggerhead, thus deprived of their hatching ground, may fall to zero. Well, 15 years ago, about 1500 sea turtles a year swam into Luganos bay, dragged their 275 pound bodies ashore, dug holes in the sand and laid their eggs and covered their nests and returned to the sea. And that laborious process continues to this day. And yet, only about half the number of sea turtles now visit the island. And for a multitude of man made reasons, Unsuspecting turtles sometimes choke on discarded plastic bags, mistaking them for jellyfish. Others are fatally injured by speedboats and jet sk for the hatchlings, which incubate in the Ionian sun, leave their sandy nests after several weeks. Survival becomes even less certain with each passing season. Beach umbrellas disturb and sometimes destroy their nests. Heavy footprints make it impossible to dig out and head for home. Shore lights and deep, tired tracks may confuse the hatchlings, cause them to wander the beach until they die. But this one person, Lily Benitos, the turtle lady, is speaking out on behalf of these silent, shy, sensitive creatures. And slowly others are beginning to listen. At her urging, the government is considering proposals which would make Laganos Bay safe for the loggerhead. Vigorously opposed by islanders seeking tourist dollars, Lily Vanitselos has been declared an undesired person on the island. And yet that petite 53 year old Athenian fights for the rights of the sea turtle, an animal whose privacy she respects so intensely that she has seen them only in photograph. Sometimes in journalism we ponder and prepare our essays. We're never really certain that the words we write will make a difference. But once upon a time, somebody wrote an article for a magazine, an article on the plight of the loggerhead sea turtle. That magazine. Listen to this. That magazine ended up in the waiting room of a dentist's office in Athens, Greece, and a lady came in with a toothache and she had to wait. So she started to read that magazine. That was six years ago. And now you've met the lady who read that magazine. Just by happenstance to become the outspoken, internationally acclaimed conservationist then and thereafter, whom we now know as Lily of the loggerheads. Reassuring, isn't it? To learn the rest of the story.