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Holly the Loggerhead Turtle
2001
On Tuesday, March 13th 2001 staff at the Blue Reef Aquarium received an emergency telephone call from the RSPCA. A member of the public had discovered a stranded turtle on nearby Holywell Bay.
The rare loggerhead turtle, nicknamed Holly, was transported to the aquarium and so began an amazing chain of events ending with her release from a Canary Islands beach.
Despite her ordeal Holly - the first live loggerhead to strand in England since 1993 - made a remarkable recovery and it was then staff began thinking about returning her to the wild.
Most turtles are cold-blooded and, as she headed towards the UK coast, the colder waters would have stopped her feeding and eventually led her to become virtually unconscious.
Blue Reef Aquarium contacted the UK's Turtle Database Programme for advice on how and where to return Holly to the wild.
They suggested flying her to the Canary Islands. A marine wildlife rehabilitation centre on the island was happy to receive the turtle for eventual release into the warm waters around the islands.
A helicopter from RAF St Mawgan flew Holly to Bristol where she was loaded aboard an Airtours International flight to Las Palmas. Following a five-hour flight Holly touched down at Las Palmas Airport where she was met by vet Pascual Calabuig and transported to his turtle unit.
Following final tests and examinations Holly was loaded into the rescue vehicle for the final leg of her journey - to a nearby beach for release.
For the Blue Reef team it was the culmination of months of hard work which began thousands of miles away in Cornwall. It was an incredible moment as Holly was released made her way down the beach and into the surf.
