ARCHIVED - Body of large loggerhead turtle found on a beach in Níjar, Almeria

This is the second loggerhead found this week; another appeared on the beach of Roquetas de Mar, also in Almería province on March 17

The turtle, which appeared dead on a beach in Almería (Andalusia), showed no signs of illness or parasites and Equinac believe that human activities may have caused its death.

Guardia Civil officers and Equinac specialists have recovered the body of a large loggerhead turtle from Playa de San José beach in Níjar, Almería.

The turtle, with a 75-centimetre long shell, a mature adult, wasn't microchipped or marked and didn't appear to have been taken to a recovery centre at any point in its life.

The well-fed female showed no signs of illness or internal or external parasites, leading the specialists to suspect that its death was probably related to some sort of human marine activity such as fishing.

A significant amount of effort goes into attempting to conserve loggerhead turtles, which are frequently killed by human activity, albeit accidentally.

The loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) is classified as “vulnerable” in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species and as “in danger” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Among its main threats are the ingestion of plastics and different types of flotation debris, their accidental capture in fishing nets, the entanglement of drifting fibers or lines and, to a lesser extent, collision with boats or the destruction and alteration of nesting beaches, all of which kill turtles.

Turtles are regularly found off the Mediterranean coastline and those which can be saved are taken to regional wildlife recovery centres for nursing and subsequent release. It’s heartbreaking to see the images of turtles completely entangled in fishing nets, with raffia bags wrapped around their necks, their shells shredded by outboard motors or just floating on the surface starving to death with their stomachs full of plastic waste, but that’s the price they pay for our activities; only one in a thousand loggerhead turtles will reach adulthood, hence the extensive protection programme to give them a “headstart in life” by taking them up to one year of age in controlled conditions when eggs are found on Spanish beaches and the recovery centres hatch them in controlled conditions before releasing into the wild.

There is also a considerable amount of effort invested into helping any example found injured on the beaches or out at sea to return to the wild and nursing them through their injuries in these same recovery centres, but from time to time dead turtles wash up on beaches and all that can be done is carry out a necropsy to determine the cause of death and try to work with the business and local communities to try and prevent further deaths occurring long-term.

The Guardia Civil has put out a reminder that in cases of accidental capture during fishing activities or if a turtle is found by members of the public alive or dead, emergency services on 112 should be called for a specialist team to be sent to collect the animal.

Images : Equinac