A loggerhead turtle rescued from a Jersey beach after Storm Goretti is set to fly 2,500 kilometres to the Azores to be released back into the wild.
Crush was found apparently lifeless on 19 January, malnourished and suffering from hypothermia. She was flown to Southampton and then transferred to Weymouth Sea Life Centre, where she has been cared for alongside other rescued turtles.
After recovering, Crush has been given the all-clear for release and is back in quarantine ahead of what will be the second flight of her life.
Sea Life centre manager Seb Webster said he was “thrilled” by the news.
He said: “We’ve been doing regular CT scans, regular weighing to make sure that growth is as expected.
“Our specialist animal care team and veterinary experts have finally signed off on getting Crush back to warmer waters and into the wild.
“Crush is in our quarantine facility at the moment because it’s just a matter of weeks, we think. We are hoping… by the end of July.”
Webster said some of the Sea Life team would travel with Crush from Heathrow.
He said: “Crush will spend a couple of days in a specialised facility over in the Azores to make sure that, after a relatively long day of travel, for a turtle, certainly, all things are well.
“Another member of the team will be out on the boat releasing Crush just off the coast of the Azores.”
When a dog walker found Crush, she was cold-stunned, a hypothermia-like condition that causes a turtle’s body to shut down.
She was first cared for by New Era Veterinary Hospital in Jersey, including two weeks at clinical director Peter Hawarth’s family home, before he flew to Southampton carrying her in a box.
Loggerhead turtles are found in the subtropical waters off north Africa and rescuers believe Crush was swept north by storms and currents. Others have been found in Sussex, Suffolk and as far north as Tiree in Scotland.
The species is classed as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List. There are an estimated 2,000 breeding females worldwide, and on average only one out of every 1,000 hatchlings reaches adulthood.
It is not known if Crush is female, but rescuers have called her “she” because, like other females, she has a larger tail.
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