DUDE - THE LOGGERHEAD TURTLE

Dude the loggerhead turtle being assessed by JamieA Loggerhead Turtle was found on the Island of Canna on the 16th of October 2005. He was found after gulls were seen circling the turtle and this alerted Fraser Dodd of the Highland Wildlife Park at Aviemore. Luckily the infrequent ferry was due the next day and the turtle was collected by our animal care team from Mallaig and promptly brought to the sanctuary for assessment.
It is very unusual for a turtle of any sort to be found in Scottish waters as it is too cold and they will not feed. On arrival at the centre the turtle was found to be male, underweight, had slight damage to his carapace and a wound to the underside of his shell. He is a small juvenile male between the age of 6 and 12. He was suffering from cold shock and it is this that is the most important problem that had to be dealt with. However warming up a cold turtle is not something you can hurry. Laboriously we have to water change through day and night raising his temperature one degree celsius every 24 hours. He is currently progressing well and we hope to feed him once he reaches 21 degrees.
UPDATE: January 2006
Dude, the loggerhead turtle from Canna, sadly did not survive. We had been warming him from his hypothermic state by raising the water he was sitting in by one degree celsius a day. While he was cold, and effectively in a coma, his body was switched off. As he warmed up his medical problems were too much for him to be able to handle. The post mortem revealed that Dude was calcium deficient and his liver had failed. Most likely he was already ill when he washed up on to the Canna shore as this is a long way from where loggerhead turtles normally range. The cold ocean combined with his body failing are probably what caused him to beach himself in the first place.

It is always very sad to lose such and amazing animal. The positive side of caring for Dude is that it has given the staff at the sanctuary more experience in working with turtles (which is a rare skill in the United Kingdom). The experience we gain is of great use as, despite being rare, turtles are regularly - every one or two years, washed up on to west coast beaches. In 2004, we successfully nursed Myrtle, another Loggerhead, back to health and her release back to the wild is imminent.

 

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