Turtle lays a total of 130 eggs on Guardamar (Alicante) beach

A LOGGERHEAD turtle recently laid an astounding 130 eggs on Guardamar’s Ortigues beach.

This is the largest number ever recorded in the Valencian Community, announced Guardamar mayor Jose Luis Saez.

The eggs were spotted on July 26 by beach cleaners who immediately launched established procedures.  This involved contacting the town hall’s Environment and Beaches departments as well as the Red Cross lifesaving service, Policia Local and the Guardia Civil’s nature protection unit, Seprona.

Experts from the regional government’s Environment department, Valencia University, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, the marine conservation organisation Xaloc and a veterinary team from the Oceanografico Aquarium in Valencia City arrived later that morning.

Thirty-one of the eggs have been taken to be incubated at the Oceanografico aquarium.  The remaining 99 were relocated to the El Saler beach on the outskirts of Valencia City where they will be guarded night and day by Xaloc volunteers.

The resting mother turtle, found half-buried in the sand, was pronounced to be in good health and has received the name of Katherine in memory of a young marine biologist from the US who died recently.

The turtle was fitted with a microchip and transmitter enabling it to be monitored and located at all times.  This will also help the experts to be at the ready when it next comes ashore to lay eggs, probably within the next 15 days.

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