GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Collaborative efforts between marine conservationists, the private sector and residents are saving the lives of endangered species along the Garden Route.
This was highlighted last week when two rescued loggerhead turtle hatchlings were transported to a rehabilitation facility suitable to ensure their release.
Rangers from CapeNature, SANParks and other organisations from the area were recently invited to the Turtle Road Trip hosted by the Two Oceans Aquarium conservation team from Cape Town. The team educated these role players on sea turtles and what to do if a hatchling is discovered.
One from Plett
Shortly after the team passed through the Garden Route, Plettenberg Bay’s Tenikwa Wildlife Rehabilitation and Awareness Centre received a loggerhead hatchling turtle that was found on Robberg Beach.
The centre immediately took action to ensure the turtle had all it needed to recoup, before arrangements were made to transport it to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, where a team of experts would rehabilitate the turtles before they are released.
CemAir stepped in and offered to fly the turtle to Cape Town. This was not the first time the carrier has come to the rescue and has, since 2017, flown 10 turtles to the Mother City for rehabilitation.
One from Sedgefield
On 27 March the little turtle was taken on board a CemAir flight. The hatchling did not have to undertake the journey alone, however, as SANParks brought another hatchling from Sedgefield, just in time for the flight.
Every year, thousands of loggerhead and leatherback turtles hatch on the beaches of northern KwaZulu-Natal. They head to sea and are carried southward by the warm Agulhas current. Facing high levels of predation and strong currents, many hatchlings find themselves off the Cape's south coast, stunned by the cold, weak and often injured. Many inevitably wash up and are stranded on the area’s beaches. Without help, these stranded hatchlings have no chance of survival.
“In this era where many species face the real threat of extinction it is only through collaborative, concerted effort by the public, NGO conservation organisations, businesses and government, that we will begin to counteract the damage being perpetrated on the environment,” says Tenikwa cofounder Mandy Freeman.
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