The Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation took in 155 turtles this hatchling season and has worked tirelessly to save each of them. Now they start looking towards releasing them back into the wild.
Cape Town, South Africa (18 October 2022) – The Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation works to protect our oceans by raising awareness and ensuring our ocean animals are safe. It also works with turtle rehabilitation projects. Each year, the foundation opens its doors to take in any turtles found on the beaches of South Africa.
Over the years, the foundation has taken in thousands of little hatchlings and rescued larger turtles needing assistance.
Many of the turtle hatchlings rescued from beaches along our coastline are now nearly fully rehabilitated and ready to head back into the wild. The foundation has rescued 155 turtles this hatchling season and 85 have already been released back into the wild.
Of the 155 turtles, four are leatherback hatchlings and 151 are loggerheads. The team also rescued three larger turtles including two green turtles and one hawkbill turtle. Majority of the releases will take place during December and January of next year.
The team has worked tirelessly to nurse them back to health. Some were found tired and weak but mostly in good condition, while others were victims of micro-plastic pollution. Thankfully, the team takes in every hatchling that is found to save as many turtle species as possible.
Why do they wash ashore?
So many of these hatchlings wash up on the Western Cape coastlines because when they are born on the Northern beaches in KwaZulu-Natal, they make their way into the ocean and towards the warm Agulhas current.
If a hatchling is lucky, it will be carried by the Agulhas Current as it turns east off the coast of the Western Cape and out into the warm Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, this isn’t easy for the little hatchlings, and many of them are ejected from the Agulhas Current into the cold water of the Atlantic. This water is too cold for these hatchlings to survive. They get gradually weaker and weaker as they try to return to the Agulhas – an effort that is made increasingly difficult in bad weather or if the turtle has been harmed by ingesting plastic pollution.
These weakened hatchlings inevitably wash up on the Western Cape’s coast, and without human intervention, they have no chance of surviving. We have a responsibility to help these animals.
The Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation is a non-profit organisation linked to the aquarium. The TOA Education Foundation hopes to educate youth on the detrimental effects of plastic and other pollution in our oceans and on our beaches.
You can show your support for the team’s efforts by supporting the hatchling rehabilitation programme here.
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