Turtles freed after slow crawl to recovery

Two turtles have been successfully released at the Poor Knights Islands and were reported to be at home back in the sea after months of rehabilitation in an aquarium.

Ron, a hawksbill, and Noggin, a green turtle, have spent time at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World making sure they are back to full health before being released on Wednesday.

Turtle expert Dan Godoy, a PhD student with Massey University who is studying green turtles, was able to dive with the turtles as they were released into the water at the Poor Knights.

"They were released in an area that has suitable shelter and in a habitat were there is plenty of food." After about 40 minutes of observation the release team were happy the turtles were settled in their environment.

The critically endangered hawksbill is usually found only as far south as Queensland, but no one told juvenile Ron who washed up on 90 Mile Beach last July. An ailing Noggin was found by Muriwai beachgoers in October 2010. The turtle had a head injury which took a long time to heal.

Mr Godoy said returning the turtles to the sea "was the cherry on top".

"It's a great end to a lot of hard work. A whole lot of people have come together to make this successful release happen."

And the rewards keep coming, with two green turtles that were found stranded at Ahipara and Rangiputa last year to be returned to the same waters they came from on Sunday.

The first will be released at Ahipara at 10am, at Te Paripari, Foreshore Rd, and the second at Rangiputa at 3pm.

Mr Godoy said the quick response by members of the public, DoC and Kaitaia airport staff had been key to getting them to Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland for rehabilitation. That was four and six months ago. Since then they had made a full recovery.

"We intend to release them from the same areas where they were found, because not only does it make sense from a scientific perspective, but also from a community perspective," Mr Godoy said.

Everyone is welcome at Sunday's releases, the attractions at Ahipara include a free sausage sizzle.