Surfer saves Hawksbill turtle

Mr Shorrock was surfing at The Point when he spotted the turtle struggling in the surf.  

“Usually if you paddle up to them they disappear pretty quickly, but this one was just hanging around,” he said. 

“It dived under the water, and when it popped back up again I thought to myself ‘it doesn’t look right’. 

“It dived under again but I noticed it was just sitting on the bottom.” 

The surfer said he caught the turtle fairly easily, then put it on his board and paddled to shore.

“I could see it was covered in barnacles and when I looked underneath I could see its stomach was concaved under its shell.” 

Mr Shorrock’s  girlfriend, Jessie Laing, took the turtle to the rehabilitation centre at Dolphin Marine Magic in Coffs Harbour. 

Manager of life sciences at the centre,  Aaron Tolley, said the turtle – which is a hawksbill, a critically endangered species – was being given antibiotics to treat either a parasitic or bacterial infection and was recovering well.

“The turtle is very active and strong and in good body condition, however it was covered in barnacles when it first arrived and still hasn’t eaten,” Mr Tolley said. 

“It spent the first few days in a freshwater bath to help remove the barnacles and has now moved over to a saltwater tank.”