Two baby turtles which washed up in Scotland at death’s door are to be returned to the wild after making amazing recoveries.
The pair of loggerhead sea turtles, named Skye and Holly, are normally found in the warmer waters of the Caribbean or Mediterranean.
But they ended up going thousands of miles off course and arrived separately on the west coast, badly hypothermic and sick.
However, they have beaten the odds and battled back to health after being taken to a turtle sanctuary in Weymouth, Dorset.
They have now been flown to Gran Canaria, where they will be released into their natural habitat.
Holly was found a week before Christmas on Ardmucknish Bay, near Oban, hypothermic and badly malnourished.
Thought to be just seven or eight months old, she weighed just 1kg.
She was first taken to Oban’s Sea Life Sanctuary, then on to Weymouth Sea Life Park. Skye was named after the island where he was found last July with a flipper torn off.
Marine expert Sarah Leaney, who cared for the pair in Dorset, said: “I can’t wait to watch them paddle off into the warm Atlantic surf.
“It’s sure to be a very moving experience, and a very satisfying one after all the work that has gone into caring for them.”
Only about two marine turtles a year, usually leatherbacks, tend to be found on Scottish beaches. Loggerheads – which can live more than 50 years – spend most of their lives in the open ocean.
Source: DailyRecord.co.uk
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