ENDANGERED turtles splashed into their ocean home for the first time on Thursday, after rehabilitation at the Two Oceans Aquarium.
The loggerhead turtles Annie and Luis, a green turtle and a hawksbill turtle respectively and about 19 hatchling loggerheads, were released out to sea this week and were prepared to fend for themselves.
Staff from the aquarium and the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), took a rescue boat with the turtles to a location in the ocean 28 nautical miles off Cape Point, where they left to continue in the wild.
Annie, a 65kg turtle who was rescued by the NSRI in August 2019, and Luis, a 101kg male turtle, were satellite tagged on Wednesday. This prepared them for their venture back into sea life.
Conservation co-ordinator for the Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation, Talitha Noble, helped to attach tags to the two VIP turtles, Annie and Luis.
“This means that we can track them when we release them. We are excited to be in partnership with the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF). They have sponsored the tags and helped fit on the tags in preparation for their release,” she said.
Annie was stranded in fishing gear and she was taken to the aquarium. “For five months she didn’t eat and we had to do lots of medical treatments. In November last year, we put her into the aquarium’s ocean display and the space helped her to feel better,” she said.
While Annie is a nervous turtle, Luis is a feisty male, scary at times.
“He was brought in by people who were out fishing. He had a hole in his shell which we think was caused by goose barnacles drilling into his shell,” she said.
They used a technique of putting a lunchbox on his back. This was to keep the hole dry.
“If they are back in the wild, they are able to reproduce and we will work hard to protect the ocean that they live in. Turtles can live up to 80 years,” added Noble.
Most of the turtles are loggerhead hatchlings that hatched on the northern beaches of KwaZulu-Natal and caught the warm current down the South African coastline.
The turtles can end up in the cold waters. This results in them suffering from cold shock, injury and dehydration.
Once the turtles are compromised, strong winds and currents expel them on our beaches, between March and July, yearly.
Hatchlings arrive at the aquarium’s turtle rehabilitation programme. For six to nine months they receive regular medical care, cleaning and daily feeding.
Despite recovering really well, Annie was floating at a 45-degree angle, with her bottom up. The aquarium foundation staff fondly refer to this unique pose as bubble butt.
NSRI chief executive officer Cleeve Robertson said: “Our marine animal rescue programmes are the visible expression of our consciousness of the very real threats facing our marine ecosystem. Our volunteers are totally stoked being involved with turtle rescues and now, directly in their release back into their home.”