Rescuers Return Turtle to Mediterranean

Photo credit: incyprus.philenews.com

Meet Methodia. This young female turtle was found on Xylofagou beach in June 2013. She was weak, exhausted and had a head injury.

She spent the next 15 months at a research center in the Mediterranean, and has fully recovered! Her rescuers returned her back to the sea, but this time she’s armed with a tag number so researchers can monitor her health and behavior.

There’s only a small population of Chelonia mydas turtles remaining in the Mediterranean Sea and are in danger of extinction. the species is protected under EU and international law.

This turtle species is listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as ENDANGERED. The turtles live in tropical and subtropical waters around the world. They are possibly extinct in Israeli waters, regionally extinct in the Cayman Islands and have been reintroduced in Bermuda.

Adult green sea turtles usually eat marine plants like kelp, and are preyed on by larger sharks and humans.

Methodia was released on the beach in front of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research centre in Meneou, Cyprus.