Rare turtle found washed up on British beach

A rare warm water turtle has washed up on a beach in Devon.

The Kemp’s ridley turtle, measuring just 30cm in length, was found on Woolacombe Beach on Tuesday.

Experts say the creature, which had died, is not the first Kemp’s ridley to be washed up along the UK coastline this winter.

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The species was on the brink of extinction in the 1980s, as a result of hunting and egg collection on the nesting beaches in Mexico and accidental capture and drowning in trawling nets in the Gulf.

Special measures were enforced to protect Kemp’s ridley turtles and the species is now recovering.

Dr Peter Richardson, biodiversity programme manager for the Marine Conservation Society, said the turtles would not survive in British waters.