Turtle rescue at Whites Beach

A GROUP of good Samaritans helped rescue a turtle that washed up on Whites Beach.

Last Thursday (October 22), Wildlife Victoria volunteer Jodie Oliver saw a post about the turtle on Facebook and headed down to the beach to help.

Ms Oliver has been rescuing wildlife across the shire for about 30 years, but she said this incident was unique.

“We don’t have many turtles around here. The last turtle rescue I attended was around 15 years ago.”

By the time Ms Oliver had arrived the spectacle had attracted several onlookers.

Darren Elliott was among them and said people were eager to help, but before Ms Oliver arrived “everyone was scratching their heads wondering what to do”.

Ms Oliver said various procedures need to be followed in such circumstances.

“There’s a lot of protocols and legalities around marine life. With any marine life DELWP (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) are in charge. So, we have to get authorisation to remove any marine life,” she said.

“That’s what I did straight away. The department asked me to take photos and do the normal health checks. Then we made a plan of where the turtle had to go.”

This involved getting the turtle to Geelong Animal Emergency who would later take it to Melbourne Aquarium.

However, moving the turtle was a challenge due to it weighing close to 80-kilograms.

After a brief discussion among the group, Mr Elliott volunteered to help transport the turtle.

“We all asked what cars everyone had, and I have a Ford Ranger, so I accessed the beach down by the ramp near the yacht club,” he said.

“It was a pretty weird experience driving through the city knowing you’ve got a turtle in the back of your ute.”

Geelong Animal Emergency looked after the turtle for the night before sending it on to the vets at Melbourne Aquarium.

Mr Elliot said it had been heartening to see people band together to help the creature.

“In such a situation it is quite nice how everyone forms just with the turtle’s welfare paramount. One guy gave me a lift to the car because it was a few kilometres away, two people brought tarps down, everyone was just pitching in and doing the best they could with Jodie orchestrating the whole thing.”

Ms Oliver agreed that getting the turtle to those who could treat it “was great teamwork”.

People who see marine life washed up on beaches are encouraged to keep their distance to avoid distressing the creature and call an expert for help.

Wildlife Victoria can be contacted on (03) 8400 7300.