Tracy Whitehead, Turtle Rescue Network Co-ordinator, has contacted the Duiwenhoks Conservancy. Tracy is looking for conservation minded people in our area, who spend time on our beaches to keep an eye open for any turtle strandings.
If there is a stranding, they have 24hr support on an emergency number whereby we will be guided through what’s necessary step by step. They will organise transport and send the turtle/s either to Port Elizabeth hospital or to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town. The person who finds the turtle will not have to do anything except call it in and then do the necessaries to get it to safety.
The RESCUE HOTLINE number is 0833001663.
Tracy is planning a roadtrip to our area for 2 March 2023 (more later) but in the meantime, *please* share this information with local residents or visiting guests.
More about Two Oceans Aquarium turtle rescue:
Over many years, baby turtles wash up along our coast during ‘hatchling season’ which spans from February until about July. They try and rescue as many of these hatchlings as possible in order to get them bigger and stronger and then they’re released months later.
Tiny hatchlings are born in the very northern region of KZN and are swept down the East coast in the warm Agulhus current. When they get to around St Francis Bay, it is usually the onset of onshore winds and storms and these little guys get blown out of the warm current into the freezing coastal waters. Too small to swim away they become weak, hypothermic and dehydrated and will eventually die. Many get washed ashore and die on the beach. If they’re lucky enough to be rescued, they have an almost 90% success rate.
Through 60 years of research, only 1 in 1000 hatchling survives to adulthood. Put this together with pollution at sea, ghost fishing gear for entanglement, by-catch from over fishing and many other issues, the odds for survival are getting worse. For every hatching or adult we can rescue, we increase these odds exponentially.
In 2022 so far, they’ve rescued 155 baby hatchlings between Plett and Cape Town!
Let’s help?
