Pig-nosed Turtle Is First Guest At The New Turtle Sanctuary at Scarborough SEA LIFE and Marine Sanctuary

By Michaela Bowness

Scarborough, UK - Work is underway to create a new Turtle Sanctuary at Scarborough Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary and already the team has their first resident – a pig-nosed turtle in desperate need of a new home.

The £200,000 project is designed to protect vulnerable and endangered species of turtles from around the world and will become the latest in a Europe-wide network of breeding facilities.

The Turtle Sanctuary is due to open in time for the February Half Term holiday, although staff were not expecting a resident so soon.

 The pig-nosed turtle was originally re-homed on a temporary basis at Loch Lomond Aquarium after an Edinburgh nightclub where the turtle lived could no longer offer him a home.

“Since the reason for creating a Turtle Sanctuary is to rescue and care for vulnerable and endangered turtles, it was an obvious choice for him to be permanently re-homed here in Scarborough” said Displays Curator Lyndsey Crawford.

“Pig-nosed turtles are currently classified as vulnerable as they are viewed as a popular food source in some countries” she continued.

As well as pig-nosed turtles, the Turtle Sanctuary will become home to a number of other vulnerable and endangered species including snake neck turtles and map turtles.

“It’s a very exciting time for us here and the Turtle Sanctuary will be a great addition to the Sea Life Centre because we can do so much more to protect these fantastic animals. We are sure it will be a great hit with our visitors too” said Lyndsey.

Visitors can expect to see a range of turtle species all homed in tanks carefully recreating their natural habitat, as well as follow the journey of turtle eggs that will be part of the breeding programme onsite.

For more information, go to: http://www.sealife.co.uk/local/index.php?loc=scarborough