Transport of injured caretta by plane from Samos
The Coordinator of the Pan-Hellenic network rescue of ARCHELON, Pavlos Tsaros, contacted the port police and was informed that Mr Alekos Baxevanis, diver, found this wounded Caretta caretta in Pythagorio of Samos.
The turtle was transfered to the port authority and with the help of members of the organization “Archipelagos”, a box was constructed for its transfer.
Because there was no vessel departing for Piraeus, in a short time, the rescue coordinator contacted Mr. Aslanidis, from the cargo dept of “E. Venizelos” airport, who in the past has been of great help with the transfer of “Omiros” to Britain.
Mr. Aslanidis contacted OLYMPIC AIR which offered a free transfer of the wounded animal, from Samos to the airport "El. Venizelos”.
The turtle, which was named “Alekos” and has a curved shell of 65.5cm and weighs 37kg, was moved to the center of care and rescue of marine turtles of ARCHELON located at the 3rd marina of Glyfada. He is wounded by involvement in fishing gear which have caused a very deep cut in one fin and have cut a piece from the other.
The Marine Turtle Rescue Centre currently hosts 20 Caretta caretta turtles, which are released in their natural environment, as soon as they recover.
(Many thanks to our volunteer Eleni Kritikou, for the translation)
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