News from Newquay
AQUARIUM TO THE RESCUE AS SECOND SEA TURTLE STRANDS
A second sea turtle is recovering at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium after stranding on a popular surfing beach in Devon.
The juvenile loggerhead turtle, which measures just over 20cms was discovered on Putsborough Beach near Woolacombe on Saturday by Diana Lewis a British Divers Marine Life Rescue medic and member of the North Devon Animal Ambulance.
Diana got in touch with the aquarium and arranged for it to be picked up and taken there to recover.
It's the second loggerhead to have stranded in the West Country in under a week. The first was found by a woman out walking on Blackrock Beach near Bude. Following veterinary examination both are now recovering at the aquarium in special quarantine tanks.
Blue Reef curator Matt Slater said: "It's rare for two turtles to strand within such a short space of time.
"It's even more unusual for both of them to survive their ordeal and we're now doing everything we can to ensure they make a full recovery and can be released back into the wild.
"Most loggerheads are born along the coasts of Mexico and Florida although there are separate populations in the Middle East.
"During their first three years of life many loggerheads migrate to the warmer waters of the Atlantic circulating in a current of water known as the North Atlantic Gyre which is rich in their favourite food including jellyfish and squid.
"We believe both turtles were probably born on a beach in America or Mexico and somehow - possibly following a severe storm - ended up getting pushed out of the gyre and further and further north.
"Most turtles are cold-blooded and, as they headed towards the UK coast, the colder waters would have initially stopped them feeding and eventually led them to become virtually unconcious", he added.
This is now the seventh rescued turtle the aquarium has looked after in recent years. Others have been successfully rehabilitated and returned to the wild.
