Rare turtle rescued in Halifax Harbour
Published: August 4, 2005
Firefighters in Halifax carried out their first turtle rescue Wednesday, saving a rare and endangered leatherback turtle.
The leatherback turtle, the world’s largest reptile, is on Canada’s endangered species list.
Fire crews were responding to a small brush fire on McNab’s Island, in Halifax Harbour, when they came across a large leatherback turtle with rope around its neck.
“She had four coils of rope around her neck, three coils on the right flipper and one on the left,” said Capt. Steve Auton.
The ropes were attached to what Auton believes were illegal lobster traps. They were pulling the turtle down, leaving it gasping for air.
So, seeing no smoke or flames to rush to, the crew decided to untangle the turtle.
“It turned out to be a little bit of a wrestling match,” Auton said. “She was panicking quite a bit.”
It took the rescuers about 10 minutes to cut as many of the ropes as they could and free the turtle. Once that was done, the crew made sure there was no fire on the island.
Auton said as far as he knows, the turtle rescue is a first for firefighters in Halifax.
“It’s very rare that anyone in this part of the world would ever get their hands on a live leatherback turtle,” Auton said.
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