Bunbury’s new Turtle Centre
With support from Lotterywest, the Dolphin Discovery Centre team at Bunbury can now care for up to 40 rescued turtles each season in a new facility equipped with intensive care pods and high-tech life support systems.
Built over six months, the centre, which is licensed by the Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, will play a vital role during winter, helping baby turtles recover and return to the ocean after storms have caused them to wash up along the coast.
Since the inception of the Marine Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Facility in the mid-1990s, aquarists and volunteers have successfully rehabilitated and released about 200 marine turtles.
Turtles rescued are baby Loggerheads which would have hatched just a few months earlier, but the facility has also cared for Hawksbill, Flatback and Green Sea turtles.
All marine turtles in Australian waters are protected species at both State and Commonwealth Government levels.
Throughout their rehabilitation, the collaboration between the Dolphin Discovery Centre team, Government Departments, Perth Zoo vets, other rehabilitators and turtle researchers results in datasets on the turtles’ health, pathology, weekly growth rates and much more.
