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Perry the Loggerhead Turtle
2002
Perry the loggerhead turtle was rescued from Perranporth Beach, Cornwall in July 2002. He weighed 25kg and was 80cm long.
He was the second loggerhead to strand alive in Cornwall in a week. The animal was spotted by Matt Thomas while he was out running on the beach. He and his brother Andy - the chief lifeguard at Perranporth - contacted the RSPCA and then began working out a way to get the huge animal to safety.
RSPCA Animal Collection Officer Felicity Cross said: "The turtle had stranded on the far side of the beach and was too big to be carried back to land. It took two people to lift it and in the end we used a mixture of quad bikes and the RNLI four-wheel drive vehicle to get the turtle back to my van.
"We then transferred it to the Blue Reef Aquarium where it's been inspected by the vet and placed in a special tank to recover," she added.
It's very unusual for two turtles to strand alive in the space of a week. We believe that the large numbers of jellyfish which have appeared in Cornish waters combined with strong south-westerly winds during July of 2002 may have brought the animals further north than usual.
Perry was about 10 years old and his shell was partly covered with barnacles. Part of his front left flipper was also missing although that appeared to be an old injury. He was flown to the Canary Islands after being rehabilitated at Blue Reef.
