Turtles freed with tracking monitor!

Sfax, Tunisia: Three rescued loggerhead turtles were released into the Mediterranean off Tunisia on Sunday, one with a tracking beacon glued to its shell to help researchers better protect the threatened species.

The main risks to sea turtles in Tunisia are linked to fisheries, since they become entangled in nets -- including the three that were released into the wild. The migratory species, which can live to as old as 45, are listed as "vulnerable" in the Red List of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The turtles’ release was watched by a crowd of some 50 people, many of them children, carried out by a specialised care centre in Tunisia’s eastern port of Sfax.