Rescue & rehabilitation of injured/sick turtles
Since 1991, ARCHELON has been operating the National Sea Turtle Rescue Network in collaboration with port authorities, fishermen, citizens and associations, which is activated in cases of injured, sick or dead turtles being washed up. Through the Rescue Network and in cooperation with the local port authorities, each year more than 800 dead or injured turtles throughout the country are reported to ARCHELON.
Since 1994 ARCHELON has established the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre in Glyfada, Attica, where injured or sick animals are transported from all over Greece. There, staff and trained volunteers provide care and treatment to the animals until their successful recovery. After their recovery, the sea turtles are released back into their natural environment, the sea. From its humble beginnings, where turtles remained in children's plastic pools, the Rescue Center has grown into a modern facility with 42 specialized rehabilitation tanks and one of the largest sea turtle rehabilitation centers in the Mediterranean.
Sea turtles swimming in the sea face many human-related hazards such as:
- Accidental entanglement in fishing equipment: It has been estimated that approximately 9,700 turtles are accidentally caught in fishing gear (nets, fishing lines, hooks etc.) in Greece each year.
- Intentional injury or killing by some unconscious people after accidental capture: Over 50% of injured turtles arriving at the ARCHELON Rescue Centre have deliberate injures.
- Marine plastic pollution: It has been estimated that 70% of all turtles have small pieces of plastic in their digestive system. Pieces of plastic were found in all turtle necropsies performed in 2018 at the ARCHELON Rescue Centre.
- Collisions with speedboats near beaches.
Thus, the ARCHELON Rescue Centre has to deal with approximately 70 cases of rescued sea turtles every year, which, among other things, suffer from:
- Head injuries and neurological problems
- Ingestion of fishing lines, hooks or other objects
- Carapace or plastron injuries
- Flipper injuries or amputations
- Lung infections or other illnesses
See the turtles that are currently under treatment at our Rescue Centre