A rare loggerhead turtle washed up on a Channel Islands beach during January’s severe Storm Goretti has recovered well enough to be flown to the mainland UK for rehabilitation this week – thanks to an impressive communal effort by Jersey islanders.
The storm hit Jersey on 8/9 January and the small female turtle was rescued by volunteers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), Littlefeet Environmental and JSPCA Animals’ Shelter. In the absence of a dedicated marine-life treatment centre on the island, she was taken to New Era Veterinary Hospital in St Saviour.
Staff at the practice named the loggerhead Crush. Unaccustomed to English Channel water temperatures and unable to feed, her body had shut down in a case of “cold stunning”. New Era was able to slowly warm Crush to a point at which she was able to resume swimming and eating.
Several weeks on from the storm, New Era stated that while Crush was getting “stronger by the minute” she was becoming desperate for more space than her tank could afford: “500 litres of salt water is hard to shift and heat”, the practice pointed out.
The nearest longer-term rehabilitation facility for the loggerhead, an endangered species, would be in the UK, though a ferry journey was felt to be too challenging for Crush. Loganair stepped in and offered the turtle a free flight to Southampton – though completing the necessary Border Force paperwork also proved exacting, according to New Era.
Crush is set to travel to the Sealife centre at Weymouth in Dorset by tomorrow (10 January) to join another stranded loggerhead undergoing rehabilitation in a larger non-public tank.
The plan is to release both of them back into the wild in warmer overseas waters this spring – along with three other previously cold-stunned turtles rescued from UK seas.
“We are primarily a veterinary hospital – and the work and learning in this process as well as the equipment has been an immense challenge but we are loving it,” New Era has said.
Apart from the volunteers with marine-life expertise, a number of local companies have pitched into the rehabilitation effort for Crush in recent weeks, including the loan of a tank, a seawater filtration system, filters and the provision of suitable food throughout the turtle’s stay.
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