Pinto

Israel's sea turtle monitoring program

A project of Israel Nature and Parks Authrity.

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Species: Loggerhead
Life Stage: Adult
Gender: Male
Release Date: 2017-09-28 09:00:00
Release Location: Kiryat Yam
Last Location: 2020-01-14 09:10:06

Adoptive Parents:
Phoebe Armitage
Olivia Lawrence
Stephanie Lindamood
Grace Benninghoff
Louise Day
Sam Schierholz
NICOLE AU
Chris & Tom Limanni
Gro Hedvig Golles Rasmussen
Neeva Young
Elevia
Tenley George

Background

Pinto is an adult Loggerhead sea turtle who was found injured and floating in the shallows by a lifeguard in October 2016. Pinto arrived at the rescue center with a critical head injury, probably due to a boat collision. In addition, Pinto's x-ray showed no less than 5 hooks in his intestine. After a slow recovery from the head injury, Pinto finally began eating and swimming freely in his tank, and almost a year after he arrived was deemed ready to return to the sea. It was decided to leave the hooks where they are as they are situated dangerously and don't seem to bother his day to day life.

1. Pinto is named after Pinto the lifeguard who found him and alerted the rescue center.
2. He has the largest amount of hooks we've ever found in one turtle - 5!
3. Pinto is a fast eater! At the center he finished almost two kilos of fish in under two minutes.
4. Pinto has one of the longest tails we've ever seen at the center! Almost 35 cm!