Port St. Joe , Florida ( CNN ) -- One by one , with a hand as steady as a surgeon 's , Lorna Patrick removes eggs from a sea turtle 's nest on a Florida beach . `` If it falls , you probably killed the hatchling that 's developing inside , '' said Patrick , a biologist with the U.S . Fish and Wildlife Service . Patrick admits she holds her breath each time she takes an egg out of the sand and places it in the foam cooler . Sand is delicately placed in the cooler between and on top of each egg . Patrick uses the sand from the nest , which is located just a few inches from the beach 's surface . This process is part of an unprecedented sea turtle relocation program . Moving sea turtle nests days before the eggs are to hatch has never been done before . It is also the first time that wildlife experts had to deal with oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico . `` Shy of letting the hatchlings swim in oil , it 's our best alternative , '' said Sandy MacPherson , the national sea turtle coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service . `` We 're confident if they go into oil they 're going to die . '' Patrick is working on the second sea turtle nest to be moved since the program started . Ninety percent of the United States ' sea turtle population can be found on Florida 's beaches , according to the U.S . Fish and Wildlife Service . It is estimated that 700 nests can be found in the Florida Panhandle , an area vulnerable to the oil spill . `` This is a huge relocation effort , '' said Thomas Strickland , assistant secretary of interior for fish and wildlife and parks . `` As many as 50 to 100,000 eggs over the next six to eight weeks will be dug up . '' An average nest has anywhere from 100 to 120 eggs . Sea turtles come out of the water a few feet from the coastline and lay their eggs in the warm sand . Loggerhead turtle eggs , the type Patrick is handling , usually hatch within 60 to 70 days . The eggs are moved just over a week before they are expected to hatch . Wildlife officials want to keep the eggs in their natural environment as long as possible . `` Through the eggs it 's believed they actually connect to the landscapes where they were born , '' Strickland said . Once the turtles mature it is hoped that they will return to the original nesting area and the natural birthing cycle will continue . Once Patrick 's two coolers are full , with the nest 's 107 eggs , they will start a journey across the state . A special climate-controlled truck donated by Federal Express will deliver the eggs to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida . The coolers will be stored in a special NASA building that will be regulated to the warm summer temperatures to which the eggs are accustomed . Instead of the beautiful white sandy beach , the hatchlings will be born in the transport coolers . Once they break out of their shells , the warm blue Atlantic Ocean will be awaiting them .
U.S. wildlife experts are moving sea turtle eggs by hand to save them from the oil disaster . Such a relocation effort has never been done before . They are being taken from Florida Panhandle to Kennedy Space Center . They will be stored in a special NASA building , then released into the Atlantic Ocean .