Green sea turtle rescued in Ireland set free in Canary Islands

By Borja Suarez

TALIARTE, Spain (Reuters) -Solstice, a rare green sea turtle found paralysed by cold on Christmas Eve on an Irish beach, was set free in Spain's Canary Islands on Friday, six months after she was rescued and underwent a programme of care by vets.

The young turtle, which would normally swim in tropical or subtropical waters, was probably taken by northbound currents and washed up almost dead on a beach in County Clare in Ireland's southwest, Pascual Calabuig, a vet and biologist from the fauna conservation centre in Gran Canaria, told Reuters.

"She came in with pneumonia, meningitis and she was cold-stun, so she was in pretty bad shape and she had shark or seal bites on the top and bottom of her shell," Maria Foley, Animal Manager at the Dingle Ocean World in Ireland, said.

Like most reptiles, turtles are unable to regulate their body temperature and become paralysed when water around them gets too cold. 

Foley flew with Solstice to Taliarte on Gran Canaria, which is located off West Africa in the Atlantic Ocean, to set her free.

For six months, the one-foot (0.3 metres) wide, seven-pound (3.1 kilograms) turtle was fed with prawns and squids and treated with antibiotics. She is now fully recovered.

Solstice is the second turtle Foley's team have brought from Ireland to Taliarte. Recent studies have shown areas suitable for sea turtles have extended, probably due to warmer sea waters, though since their lifespan is so long, behavioural change must be observed over long periods.   

Green sea turtles, though classified as endangered, are fairly common around the Canary archipelago. They take their name from the colour of their fat, not the colour of their shell. 

They can live up to 90 years in the wild and grow up to 5 feet and weigh up to 415 pounds.          

(Reporting by Borja Suarez; writing by Inti Landauro; editing by Charlie Devereux, William Maclean )