Iona the turtle's remarkable recovery, from death's door to being back in the wild
Turtle Iona was not expected to make it through the night when she was found washed up on a Scottish beach, “malnourished and dehydrated”.
But two years later, and 10 times heavier, she's been released back into the wild.
The reptile became the smallest live stranded loggerhead turtle recorded in the UK, after she was found in 10C water off the Scottish island of Iona – which she was named after – in January 2022.
She was spotted by a passer-by before the team at the British Divers Marine Life Rescue contacted Sea Life in Loch Lomond to bring her in for rehabilitation.
Todd German, animal care curator at Sea Life Scarborough, said: “She was found by a passer-by in the bleak midwinter, which is just incredibly lucky that she was found.
“She was really touch and go whether or not she would pull through and make it.”
Iona was relocated to Sea Life in Scarborough in May last year for further care before making her 1,700 mile voyage to the Azores in Portugal.
Mr German said her release back into the wild was “surreal” but hopes Sea Life can continue giving turtles a “chance of survival”.
He said: “It was really strange in the fact that that was the end of my part in her journey and it was a really lovely feeling to see her go off into the big blue.
“Sea turtles around the world are really facing challenges, and I dread to say, they’re human-faced challenges. That’s through climate change and also our interaction with the natural environment and turtles themselves.
Robin Hunter, display supervisor at Sea Life Loch Lomond and part of Iona’s care team, said it was his first time rehabilitating a turtle.
He told PA: “It was obviously not the best experience that you’d want for the turtle, but to be part of something like that is pretty spectacular. You really feel like you’re making a difference.
“To be able to see her now go and live the way she’s supposed to be living, that is a phenomenal feeling.
“There’s a small percentage of worry because you never know. It’s the wild at the end of the day, but she is a fighter.”
Mr Hunter said that Iona was not in good condition when she was first discovered but said her recovery has been “remarkable”.
He said: “When she first arrived, she wasn’t in great condition and she was very dehydrated, very malnourished…. we really didn’t expect her to make the night.
“Bit by bit, with a lot of work from the care team, we were able to slowly raise her temperature.
“It was remarkable. It was like a totally different turtle.”
The loggerhead turtle was fitted with a satellite tag to allow researchers to monitor her behaviour in the wild.
Andrea Herguedes, a research assistant at the Institute for Research in Marine Sciences and Costa project told PA: “We are wondering if she will behave the same as a wild turtle after one year of rehab.”
There is a chance the loggerhead turtle could migrate as far as North America because “when loggerheads reach sexual maturity they move to nesting beaches”, Mafalda Sousa, another research assistant added.
Ms Herguedes said she is confident that Iona will thrive again in the wild, describing her species as “super resilient”.
Sea Life partnered with Flying Sharks at the Porto Pim aquarium in Portugal, a company promoting sustainable use of the ocean, enabling Iona to relocate to warmer climates.
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