Endangered sea turtle rescued in Wales
An endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is lucky to be alive after a near death experience that left it stranded more than 4,000 miles from home.
The turtle, named “Tally,” was found on the shores of Talacre in northern Wales in November 2021. After months of rehabilitation, the turtle will journey to the Texas coast, where it will be released into the Gulf of Mexico in the coming days. Kemp’s ridleys are the smallest and most endangered sea turtle species in the world.
Tally was first spotted by a dog walker, who reported it as “presumed dead” to the local British Divers’ Marine Life Rescue. Responding biologists from Anglesey Sea Zoo found Tally was still alive and provided months of intensive care until she fully recovered.
Mary Kay Skoruppa, the Texas sea turtle coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the cold water of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean could have caused the death of the subtropical sea turtle in the winter. Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are primarily found in the Gulf of Mexico, but can get swept up in the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic, according to Fish and Wildlife.
“Thanks to the quick response of a great group of international partners and volunteers, Tally is alive and ready to come home,” Skoruppa said.
To send Tally back to her home in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
had to get a proper permit called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, because the Endangered Species Act works to make sure the life of the animal being transferred doesn’t threaten their survival in the wild.
Then to physically get Tally from point A to B, they worked with Turtles Fly Too, a group that coordinates aviation of endangered sea turtles with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Ken Andrews of Turtles Fly Too described this case as their “furthest and most complex mission ever flown.”
Tally is set to reach Houston before August ends. The Houston Zoo will take her in for a short time, ensuring she is fit to reenter the wild. Texas A&M University at Galveston’s Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research will attach a tracking device to Tally before she is released.
Once Tally is approved to reenter the wild, officials from the Padre Island National Seashore and the international team of partners will meet in Galveston to send her off in what could be early September.
“We hope that Tally will grow to maturity and return to nest on a Texas beach in a few years to help ensure her species’ survival into the future,” Skoruppa said.