{"id":4160,"date":"2025-07-18T21:31:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T21:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/4160\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T21:31:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T21:31:13","slug":"pair-of-sea-turtles-released-into-wild-following-year-long-rehabilitation-after-being-found-on-perth-beaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/4160\/","title":{"rendered":"Pair of sea turtles released into wild following year long rehabilitation after being found on Perth beaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two young loggerhead sea turtles have been returned to the ocean – via the air – after spending more than a year in rehabilitation in Rockingham.<\/p>\n

Beachgoers stumbled across the stranded turtles separately on Coogee and Golden Bay beaches last year, and they have been recuperating and undergoing treatment at the Naragebup Rockingham Regional Environment Centre.<\/p>\n

Last week they were flown to Ningaloo and hand-released back into warmer waters, bringing their adventurous travels full circle.<\/p>\n

\"SpongeCamera IconSponge on arrival to Naragebup Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

The first turtle, which workers named Sponge, was found at Woodman Point upside down and thought to be dead with only half a right front flipper and very little of its back left flipper remaining, and weighting just 130 grams.<\/p>\n

A month later another little loggerhead named Gebe, then 112 grams, was found stranded on a Golden Bay beach and brought in to the centre.<\/p>\n

Naragebup head of reptiles and turtles Pauline Whitehead said it was not uncommon for turtles to be found on beaches south of their hatching location.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of young turtles get swept through the current and through storms and end up down south where they get stranded on beaches,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"GebeCamera IconGebe on arrival to Naragebup Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cAlong the way they can get badly scraped, bumped into or attacked by bigger fish, which is why it\u2019s so common for them to be missing limbs when they\u2019re eventually found.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both of the turtles had suffered from cold shock, dehydration, malnutrition and float syndrome, a condition where turtles are unable to dive due to buoyancy issues, often caused by infection or gas build-up in their digestive system.<\/p>\n

Loggerheads, which grow to about 135kg as an adult and can live for upwards of 60 years, are considered a vulnerable species.<\/p>\n

They are most at danger when young, but as they grow into adulthood their formidable size limits their risk of being targeted by sharks and other ocean hunters.<\/p>\n

Due to their time away from danger at the Rockingham facility, and assistance in returning to full health with medication provided by WA Wildlife Hospital in Bibra Lake, the two young turtles stand a far better chance of open ocean survival.<\/p>\n

Both bulked up during the stint in rehabilitation; Sponge weighed 2.83kg and Gebe 2.33kg before they were flown north, along with 16 other rescued sea turtles that had been rehabilitated by AQWA and the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre.<\/p>\n

The decision to release them at Ningaloo came after they began to show natural and wild behavioural signs, such as working for their food and sleeping underwater for more than 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

Naragebup marine biologist Cindy Joli said that moment last week was the nicest feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just think of what they\u2019ve been through, the dangers they\u2019ve faced, the sickness they\u2019ve overcome and it really makes you happy to see them back where they belong,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Naragebup workers said anyone who spots a marine turtle on a beach should never put them back in the water but ring the WA Wildcare helpline on 9474 9055.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two young loggerhead sea turtles have been returned to the ocean – via the air – after spending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1313,64,63,44,128,45,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-4160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-wa-news","14":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}