Sep 09

Alghero Aquarium

Care + Information= Results! It was in 2008 that we were alerted by tourists visiting the Alghero Aquarium in Sardinia, Italy. They reported about the appalling conditions under which two loggerhead turtles were held at the Aquarium. The Born Free Foundation also followed the tourists’ email complaints. We immediately contacted the curator of the Naples Aquarium at the “Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn” (SZN) in Naples, Dr. Flegra Bentivegna for help. The two turtles were held at the Aquarium, respectively, for 30 and 20 years. The turtles were seized at last in 2011 by the local authorities and were transferred to Oristano, Sardinia, to the Sinis Rescue Centre (CRES) at the IAMC-CNR laboratory (Institute for Coastal Marine Environment – National Research Council) and placed in a 3,000 lt. rehabilitation tank. Both turtles were suffering from malnutrition, were underweight, their shells were covered with algae, parasites and injuries. The absence of natural sunlight in the subterranean structure where the two turtles were kept in captivity in a small tank, caused them to have calcium assimilation deficit. Since rehabilitation started, their weight has increased, their diet is regular in quantity and quality. The turtles will soon be transferred to a 14,000 lt. tank […]
Sep 01
Sep 01

Dubrovnik

In November 2000, the U.K.-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society contacted MEDASSET about complaints received from a number of British tourists who had visited Croatia and were concerned about the poor living conditions of a captive loggerhead turtle at the Dubrovnik Aquarium. Several reviews have been posted on the Internet by visitors about the dreadful experience of seeing the animal in such conditions. The turtle, a fully grown adult female, had been kept for the past 40 years in a small concrete tank surrounded by coins thrown in by visitors. MEDASSET requested clarification from a local contact, based at the Croatian Natural History Museum, who confirmed that indeed many complaints had been received from all over the globe concerning the turtle’s plight. It was suggested that the turtle would require initial rehabilitation in a larger tank, enabling it to swim and rebuild muscle strength. MEDASSET contacted the aquarium offering three possibilities to stop the turtle’s suffering: rehouse it in a larger tank, send it to a recuperation center or relocate it to another aquarium with adequate facilities. In November 2001, MEDASSET began to make arrangements for its transfer to the Stazione Zoologica “Anton Dohrn” in Naples, Italy, where Dr. Flegra […]
Sep 01

Oceania

The sun sparkled on the beautiful gold markings and amber shell of “Oceania,” a hawksbill turtle (“Eretmochelys imbricata” to be exact), as she was gently lowered into the sea from the wooden sailing boat “Buteo” of the Natural Park of Madeira. The previous night had been spent in a tank shared with two conger eels and two grey triggerfish at the Aquarium of the Municipal Museum of Funchal. She arrived in Madeira from Nice, France, aboard a flight of TAP Portuguese Airlines who kindly provided the tickets and allowed her to travel in the passenger compartment. Oceania, a jet set sea turtle, was finally braving the ocean!
Sep 01

Albanian turtle “Jon-Tove”

Ten-year-old Jon Elling is a regular visitor to Albania. His family owns a beach apartment in the coastal town of Durrës. Their annual treat is to swap the cold of their native Norway for the warmth of the Mediterranean
Sep 01

The Maltese Turtle

This turtle story takes place in the small fishing village of Marsalokk, located in the southern part of the island of Malta, during the summer of 2003.
Sep 01

Yasmine’s Story

Whether your taste in fairy tales is with Hans Christian Andersen or “Scheherazade,” it seems that sea turtles can have their own fairy tale stories with happy endings. All it takes is a good fairy and a valiant prince.