Young turtle gets lost on land
A lost turtle found wandering so far from the ocean it couldn’t even see the water has been rescued after a dog walker from Port Hedland noticed its unusual tracks in the dirt.
The juvenile green sea turtle may have been stranded after going into a tidal creek before the tide went out.
It had been crawling in circles when it was spotted by Joel Hutchinson behind the Dampier Salt works in Port Hedland. The salt works are nearly a kilometre from shore.
Care for Hedland was contacted and one of the organisation’s volunteers, Sam Arif, travelled to the site and inspected the turtle for injuries before helping lift it onto a ute.
It was then driven before being driven to Six Mile for release.
“More than likely it came in at night time,” Mr Arif said.
The next high tide was at 2pm that day, even if the turtle did find its way back to water Mr Arif said it would have been a long time to spend out of the water for the turtle.
Green sea turtles are an endangered species and live year-round in waters off Port Hedland.
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