ISRAEL: Four sea turtles are released back into the Mediterranean after a long rehabilitation process in an Israeli rescue center

Record ID: 397474

  • Title: ISRAEL: Four sea turtles are released back into the Mediterranean after a long rehabilitation process in an Israeli rescue center
  • Date: 23rd August 2012
  • Summary: MEIRAV REACHING WATER AND DISAPPEARING WITHIN THE WAVES (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEIRAV EDRI, FOUND LOGGERHEAD SEA TURTLE MEIRAV INJURED ON THE BEACH, SAYING: "Last winter we came to see one of the storms here on the beach, and we saw a big sea turtle laying in the sand trying to move, and the waves just pulling him over and over. That's it. We called the centre for rescue f
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVAC2XCUK7MLWFDGY39I7UG7FFRF
  • Story Text: Israel's Nature and Parks Authority on Thursday (August 23) returned four sea turtles back to the Mediterranean sea, after they received medical treatment and went through rehabilitation in an Israeli rescue centre.
    Loggerhead Sea Turtle Meirav, a mature female, was found injured on the beach after swallowing a fishing line.

    "Last winter we came to see one of the storms here on the beach, and we saw a big sea turtle laying in the sand trying to move, and the waves just pulling him over and over. That's it. We called the center for rescue for sea turtles and they came and took him," Meirav Edri, who found the turtle, told Reuters in the Zikim beach in southern Israel.
    After the line was surgically removed by veterinarians in the rescue centre, Meirav recovered well and gained 17 pounds.

    "There is two species of turtles here, we are talking about two turtles are Loggerhead Turtles and the other two its Green Sea Turtles. Both of them are endangered and are having very rough life in the Mediterranean," said Yaniv Levi, head of the Sea Turtle Conservation Project.
    Both the Loggerhead Sea Turtle and the Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia Mydas) are classified as "endangered" on the 2007 Red List of Threatened Species, provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
    Another of the rehabilitated turtles is Green Sea Turtle, Yossi the Fisherman, a young male who was hospitalized after becoming entangled in fishing nets. A fisherman by the name of Yossi found him exhausted among the nets and took him to the rescue centre, where he spent five months recovering from a prior sickness.
    The Israel Turtle Rescue Center is run by the Sea Turtle Project in Israel, which is funded by Israel's Nature and Parks Authority. It treats approximately 50 sea turtles a year, most of whom are injured due to encounters with boats, propellors, jet skis, fishing lines, and hooks . About 70 percent of all the turtles rescued are later released.
    The centre also runs a Green Sea Turtle propagation project to promote the growth of the Green Sea Turtles in the Mediterranean.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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