Young loggerhead turtle survives beaching in the Netherlands

This video from the USA says about itself:

25 September 2012

An educational video by SEE Turtles about sea turtle migrations including leatherbacks and loggerheads.

Translated from the Dutch RAVON herpetologists:

Loggerhead survives stranding

Wednesday, February 4th, 2015

On Sunday, January 11th a young loggerhead turtle stranded on the beach at Wassenaar. It was the second turtle on a Dutch beach in four weeks because on December 20, 2014 at Den Helder a young Kemp’s ridley turtle had been found. This animal was transferred to Rotterdam Zoo but died that night. The loggerhead is more fortunate.

The young loggerhead (Caretta caretta) was noticed in the morning by hikers in the low surf on the beach, near Berkheide, and was reported to Ecomare museum and the animal ambulance in The Hague. The turtle was then picked up by the animal ambulance and delivered at Rotterdam Zoo. Rotterdam Zoo is along with Burgers’ Zoo the designated place for accommodation of stranded sea turtles.

Upon entering Rotterdam Zoo it was noted that the animal was very apathetic, felt cold, but apparently had no injuries. Also an X-ray examination revealed no significant issues. However, abnormal liver and kidney values were found in the blood. The turtle had a weight of 2.1 kg and a shell with a length of 24.5 centimeters. The first night the turtle was housed in a small amount of water at 14 degrees Celsius to prevent drowning. The next morning, the animal swam around to everyone’s surprise. The water level was increased to 80 centimeters and the temperature was raised in four days time in small increments to 20 degrees. After six days the turtle started feeding and also its blood levels became a lot better. The coming months the turtle will remain in Rotterdam Zoo to recuperate and to see if it has no permanent damage on account of its adventure in the cold North Sea. Then people will look where the animal can be freed again.

The first mention of a loggerhead turtle [in the Netherlands] was in 1707. This animal was exhibited after its discovery in a café in Amsterdam, where the animal died after a few days. Since then, there are seven other reports from the Netherlands. Insofar as is known, only the animal that washed ashore in 2008 at Groote Keeten (Noord-Holland province) survived. This weakened animal was rehabilitated in the aquarium of Burgers’ Zoo and later freed off the Portuguese coast.

The current one is probably from Florida (USA) where a large population nests. Juveniles make journeys with the Gulf Stream to the Azores and Cape Verde Islands after which they return to the coast of America.

An article about the stranding of the young loggerhead will soon appear in the RAVON journal.