Female loggerhead rescued at Gnaraloo Bay!

Hey everyone,

This morning during the daily GTCP turtle track monitoring, a Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) female was found trapped in wire by our researchers in Gnaraloo Bay. We first saw her at 06:00, and assuming it was nesting, left her undisturbed and continued patrolling the beach for turtle tracks. Near the end of our patrol nearly 3 hours later, the turtle was still there and had not moved much. While it is not unusual for the nesting process to last a few hours in species such as Green (Chelonia mydas) and Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) turtles, Loggerheads rarely spend such a long time on the beach. When GTCP researchers approached the turtle, they found that the movement of her front left flipper had become impeded by wire and she was unable to return to sea. She was removed from the wire with the help of a GTCP volunteer, and was able to safely return to sea, although exhausted by such a long stay on the beach! Have a look at some photos taken by our team…

This incident highlights the importance of keeping beaches litter free. You can help sea turtles and marine wildlife by picking up any litter and trash you see on the beach. Plastic bags and small plastic debri are especially hazardous for turtles as they confuse these with jellyfish and ingest them or simply become trapped in them. You can also help by not leaving cigarette butts in the sand as sea birds often eat these which often leads to their death.

Check in with us again for more updates on our sea turtle monitoring efforts!!

Cheers, Marie.

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