Hope for turtle rehoming despite US conservation cuts

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A turtle stranded in North Wales is ready to be rehomed to the Gulf of Mexico, but the director of Anglesey Sea Zoo, who have been caring for Rhossi the turtle worry it could take months until it can be brought back to where it will be happiest.

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00:00The really fundamental thing for global conservation is that it's about the conservation, the species,

00:06the project. You know, it needs to be coherent, it needs to all continue despite politics,

00:13despite borders and boundaries, because, you know, animals, endangered animals, any kind

00:17of animals and species in wildlife don't understand these kinds of politics and these kinds of

00:21boundaries.

00:22Paul Frosty's tale is a classic story of politics getting in the way of conservation. Anglesey

00:28Sea Zoo took the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle in when it washed up on a beach at the end

00:32of 2023. The plan has been to get Rossi back to the wild, back to their natural habitat,

00:37especially considering how critically endangered the species is.

00:40At the moment, we've got our second Kemp's Ridley turtle. And Kemp's Ridley turtles are

00:46particularly important because the species is critically endangered. So at one time,

00:51there were only about 200 females left in the world that only found in the Gulf of Mexico,

00:56where they breed on just one or two beaches. And in the last decade or so, they've had

01:00a really good conservation programme for them in Texas. So they've re-established a breeding

01:05site on a beach in Texas, just over the border from the last breeding site in Mexico.

01:11The turtle species only has roughly 7,000 females left. So the issue is pressing for

01:16conservationists. It's a shame that politics has to be the reason it's been made so difficult

01:19for Paul Frosty and their journey back home. But it's something that, while frustrating,

01:24Frankie says they have confidence will be remedied.

01:27But in the meantime, we've had a change in the policies from the Trump presidency. And

01:33as a result, a lot of the people that we're working with, a lot of the organisations we're

01:36working through are either no longer in existence in the future. They're all on a kind of stop

01:43work, a frozen funds situation at the moment. None of these people know whether the funds

01:50will ever be available to do this kind of ongoing work. As you know, we're at the stage

01:54now where we've put all the time and effort and we really want to see this little turtle

01:57back out in the wild. It won't be particularly detrimental if it takes a few more months

02:01or even another year, because in the meantime, we are getting a bigger, healthier turtle,

02:05which is going to do really, really well when it's released.

02:10It's not the only turtle that Anglesey Sea Zoo has taken in. And Frankie is hoping that

02:13they can become a centre for protecting these turtles and will eventually re-home all the

02:17turtles that wash up on our beaches.

02:21But it is really frustrating and it also means that obviously for our future turtles, we're

02:27going to have to come up with a plan. Whatever ends up happening with Rossie, we're now going

02:32to have to start making sure we have a plan for future turtles because we know we're going

02:34to get them. We're building the first turtle rescue centre in the UK because we know we're

02:39getting more turtles and we want to be in a situation where we can do the best for those

02:42turtles. But having successfully repatriated one to the Gulf of Mexico, we were really

02:50hoping the process would be a little bit easier, not more difficult. So it's more frustration

02:55than anything. We are confident we can find a way forward with this.

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