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Third loggerhead stranded
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Britain's South-west has seen the third stranding in as many weeks of a loggerhead turtle - a species not indigenous to the UK.
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The turtle came ashore at Porth Hellic beach on St Mary's, in the Scilly Isles.
Rescuers from the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust acted on advice telephoned from the mainland by Dave Jarvis, Cornwall Co-ordinator for British Divers Marine Life Rescue, until the turtle could be put on one of the regular helicopter flights from St Mary's to Penzance.
The creature was collected by Jarvis and other BDMLR volunteers and transferred to Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium, where it joined the two other loggerheads to have stranded - one which landed in Cornwall's Widemouth Bay, the other on Devon's Puttsborough Beach.
The three are being cared for and will be released into the sea only when they are judged to be strong enough to make their way back toward their usual habitats to the south.
'Loggerhead turtles are not a UK species but occasionally individuals do wash up on the South-west coastline,' said Tony Woodley, BDMLR Publicity Officer. 'They are always hypothermic and dehydrated and need urgent medical attention.' |
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