Two young injured turtles were rescued by Nature Trust last night.

Its Wildlife Rescue Section was called to rescue the turtles - one in Birżebbuġa, the other in Qawra.

Nature Trust thanked all those taking action to help the turtles but appealed to the public not to take any action when finding injured turtles.

“Too often, the Wildlife Rescue Team is coming across cases in injured marine turtles, where lines which are coming out of the mouth or the rear end are pulled or cut.  This is causing problems to the Vets as well as to the health of the turtles.”

It said that in the case of one of the turtles rescued yesterday, the people who found it pulled out a fishing line thinking they were helping out the turtle.

But this only led to the turtle’s intestines and other organs being torn, causing the turtle great pain. It is now in danger of losing its life due to these internal injuries and bleeding.

Nature Trust said that last month another turtle was found entangled in nylon lines, and the people who found it tried to help by cutting all lines and letting the turtle free.

It was recovered two days later, and had broken flipper bones. It is now under treatment and rehabilitation and is in a bad condition.

Anyone coming across injured turtles should call the Wildlife Rescue and keep the turtle calm until personnel arrived. 

All rescued turtles are taken to veterinary surgeons by the Rescue Team members who all hold an ERA permit.