Ba Ria-Vung Tau (VNS/VNA) -♓ The Forest Protection Force of the Con Dao National Park Management Board has recently rescued and returned a rare green sea turtle stranded on the Mui Lo Voi beach in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau back into the ocean.

According to the management board, around 6pm on August 17, they received a report that a sea turtle was stranded on the Mui Lo Voi beach. The Con Dao National Park's Forest Protection Unit quickly dispatched a team to the location, together with local residents and tourists present, to rescue the stranded sea turtle and release it back into the ocean. The stranded sea turtle was identified as a Chelonia mydas (commonly known as the green sea turtle), an endangered species, and was a male weighing around 70kg. The cause of the stranding may have been due to the turtle coming too close to shore while foraging or searching for a female to mate with and then being unable to return to the sea due to the rapid retreat of the tide. Thanks to the professional handling of the Forest Protection Force, along with the support from local residents and tourists, the rare green sea turtle was successfully rescued and safely returned to the ocean in good health. In 2023, the unit rescued and relocated 2,262 egg nests to incubation sites, with a total of 217,257 eggs from 2,159 nests, successfully hatched. A total of 166,177 hatchlings have been safely released into the ocean under supervision. The unit has tagged 441 mother turtles. On average, each tagged mother turtle lays around 2.96 nests per year, with the most prolific mothers laying up to eight nests annually. It is estimated that in 2023, approximately 765 mother turtles returned to Con Dao waters to lay their eggs. As of April this year, turtles have successfully laid 65 nests on the beaches, 13 mother turtles have been tagged for monitoring and 65 nests have hatched, with 3,374 hatchlings released into the ocean under supervision. In recent years, the Con Dao National Park has rescued over 1,500 turtle egg nests every year, carried out artificial incubation and released over 150,000 hatchlings into the ocean./.