Rare turtle found washed up on Cornwall beach had stomach full of plastic

A rare loggerhead turtle which washed up on a beach in Cornwall had ingested dangerous marine plastics, experts say.

Staff at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay have been working to rehabilitate the turtle since it washed up on Perranporth beach in January, an estimated 4,000 miles away from its normal habitat.

They said the turtle, who is nicknamed Omiros, had ingested a lot of plastic, meaning it was weak and underweight after losing its way across the Atlantic Ocean.

A spokesperson for the aquarium said: "Luckily, our team managed to safely remove the plastic from the juvenile loggerhead turtle and hope it will now be able to eat more and continue to put on weight."

They added that plastic pollution is affecting thousands of marine animals - an issue they're seeing first-hand.

"Sadly, sea turtles are affected by plastic during every stage of their life.

"They crawl through plastic on the way to the ocean as hatchlings, swim through it while migrating, confuse it for jellyfish which is one of their favourite foods, and then crawl back through it as adults when on the beach for nesting.

"Thousands of sea turtles, whales, and other marine mammals die each year from ocean pollution and ingestion or entanglement in marine debris.

"Some plastic can cause blockages, which then creates problems for turtles feeding and can unfortunately lead to starvation.

"Rubbish is often left on beaches that turtle’s nest on too. Adult sea turtles in many places need to crawl through debris to find a place to nest and hatchlings can get caught in the debris trying to make their way to the ocean.

"Tiny bits of plastic in the sand can also affect nests and hatchlings."

They added that visitors will not be able to see Omiros, because he needs to be kept in quarantine before he's released back into the wild.