Struggling turtle rescued
Iconic animal was brought back from the brink of extinction
A LOGGERHEAD sea turtle was rescued by the Guardia Civil maritime service off the coast of Pilar de la Horadada on February 4.
The animal was spotted by the crew of the Río Oja patrol boat about 30 nautical miles from the shore, where it was having difficulty swimming and was not submerging itself as they normally do. Two officers took an auxiliary boat to rescue it, and then took it to Santa Faz wildlife recovery centre in Alicante.
Vets there determined that it could be suffering from an eye illness and had numerous parasites. After a thorough examination, the turtle was then taken to the Oceanographic
centre in Valencia, which specialises in treating marine species like this.
The loggerhead turtle is a protected species and classified as in danger of extinction under the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
They face numerous threats, including ingestion or becoming trapped by fishing paraphernalia, such as hooks or abandoned nets, as well as plastic waste which they mistake for food.
The Guardia Civil environmental service (Seprona) also rescued an injured loggerhead turtle, which had a fish hook inside it, on November 19, 2020.
TORREVIEJA town hall has awarded a contract to resurface streets in the town.
A total of €327,398 is being spent and the work will be carried out by the company Transportes Europeos del Campo de Cartagena, S.L.
Councillor for works and services Sandra Sánchez said a number of roads and streets were in a ‘poor condition’, which had been included in the local authority’s annual repair plan. Sra Sánchez noted that resurfacing works were due to start in around one month and would take eight weeks to complete.
Urbanisation residents who read the council’s notification complained that ‘once again’ most of the works were planned for the town centre and outlying areas of the municipality with serious deficiencies had been ignored.
They noted that huge pot holes on Calle Rodrigo in La Siesta have been inconveniencing
motorists for years and home owners’ attempts to fill in the holes have only provided temporary relief.
The council reported that the areas to benefit from the contact are – Calle Orihuela between Ronda Ricardo Lafuente and Calle José de Saramago; Avenida Delfina Viudes from Ronda Ricardo Lafuente to the funeral parlour; Ronda José Sánchez García from Calle Perseo to Alfredo Novel; Calle Apolo from Calle Pedro Lorca to Maestro Francisco Casanovas; Calle Antonio Machado from Calle Apolo to Radio Murcia; Avenida del Pacífico from Calle Mar Rojo to Mar Caribe; Calle Camilo José Cela from Calle Ghandi to Roberto Kockh; and Avenida de La Purísima from Calle Almudena to Calle de la Sal.
Resurfacing work will also be carried out at Torrevieja hospital and ‘the Carrefour roundabout’.
ECOLOGISTS have celebrated the agreement between regional and national governments to give protected status to the Iberian wolf.
The ministry for the ecological transition noted that all the populations of the animal around the country will be placed on the ‘special protection’ list.
A spokesman explained that they were following advice from the government’s scientific committee which highlighted the ‘cultural heritage’ of the Iberian wolf, as well as the ‘service to the environment that the animal provides’.
The ministry noted the ‘key role’ that the wolf plays for many local ecosystems.
At the same time they alerted that the species is under threat and that coordinated action is necessary around Spain to ensure its survival and ‘its coexistence with humans’.
Ecologist organisations called the move an ‘historic agreement’. They noted that people will no longer be able to hunt the animal due to the change of status.
President of the ‘Lobo Marley’ association, Luis Miguel Domínguez noted that the decision had come after many years of fighting for the classification.
He said the government commission had recognised that the wolf was ‘not being treated well’ in Spain.
WWF coordinator for conservation, Luis Suárez said it was a ‘historic day’ and a very important move.
“They will no longer be able to kill wolves,” he said.
Sr Suárez stated that he hoped that there would now be a change in attitude to the wolf and that the government would help to ‘showcase all the things that the wolf does for society and its importance as a key species for ecosystems’.
The Ecologistas en Acción association noted that it will put a stop to indiscriminate hunting of the animal.
They highlighted the ‘potential of the wolf to coexist with livestock’ and at the same time noted that it would be necessary for the government to give economic support to the measure.
The association added that the Iberian wolf had been very close to extinction in the 1970s but concentrated efforts had prevented this calamity.
EU funds were secured to conserve the wolf in Spain but only in the area to the south of the Duero River, while to the north of the waterway hunters were allowed to continue shooting the animal.
Wolf detractors
However, there is a powerful lobby pitted against the protection of the wolf. The regional governments of Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia and Castilla y León all criticised the national government for the move and said they would ‘take action’ against the measure.
Environment councillor for Cantabria, Guillermo Blanco claimed that the people who voted in favour of its protection had ‘only seen the wolf on television’ and he called for them to visit his region to ‘see the reality of the livestock farmers’. The Galician regional government claimed that wolves had killed 2,400 cattle, sheep, goats and pigs in that region alone in 2020.