Omey the turtle finds a place with sharks

Omey the loggerhead turtle is being nursed back to health after being swept to a west of Ireland beach from her native Miami…

Omey the loggerhead turtle is being nursed back to health after being swept to a west of Ireland beach from her native Miami.

The female turtle has been christened after the Galway island where she washed ashore three weeks ago.

Mr Thomas Madden, from Cleggin, Connemara, Co Galway, found the exhausted reptile and called in marine rescue workers who put her in a warm bath to revive her.

Now she is swimming with the sharks in a heated tank in Dingle's Ocean World, in Co Kerry.

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Omey, who weighed 3½ kg when she was found, has recovered her strength with the help of vitamins and a saline injection.

The loggerhead lives in tropical climates and is one of the largest among the sea turtle family.

When in cold or temperate-cold waters - as happens to several a year found off this coastline - they often go into thermal shock because their circulatory system is not equipped to deal with temperature drops.

The manager of the Mara Beo in Co Kerry, Ms Maura Griffin, said the young turtle, whose shell measures just 30 cm, is gradually getting back to her full health.

She said: "She's eating a lot now. She's not even two foot long. It's very unusual to find her in Irish waters.

"We think she probably came from Miami because she was found along the west coast.

"She was probably swept along with the currents. She was very weak. The vet gave her an injection of saline."

Omey will stay in the shark tank until she is ready to be shipped to warmer water in the Caribbean some time next year.

Ms Griffin said the young turtle will be perfectly safe among the predators.

"The last one we had, Peig, was swimming with seven foot sharks. She used to nip at the sharks, not the other way around.

"Omey is the smallest. She's lovely, she's so young. She would bite - she's already nipped one of the divers."

This is the third loggerhead rescued by the Kerry aquarium in as many years.

Sea turtles are a threatened species, due to exploitation for meat and jewellery.

Their eggs are considered to be an aphrodisiac in the Caribbean, and removal of eggs and destruction of their beach habitats puts the species under further pressure.

Peig, who was found near the Kerry Blaskets in 2000, was nursed back to health in a warm-water environment in Mara Beo and dropped off in the Canaries last year.