00:00The really fundamental thing for global conservation is that it's about the conservation, the species,
00:06the project. You know, it needs to be coherent, it needs to all continue despite politics,
00:13despite borders and boundaries, because, you know, animals, endangered animals, any kind
00:17of animals and species in wildlife don't understand these kinds of politics and these kinds of
00:21boundaries.
00:22Paul Frosty's tale is a classic story of politics getting in the way of conservation. Anglesey
00:28Sea Zoo took the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle in when it washed up on a beach at the end
00:32of 2023. The plan has been to get Rossi back to the wild, back to their natural habitat,
00:37especially considering how critically endangered the species is.
00:40At the moment, we've got our second Kemp's Ridley turtle. And Kemp's Ridley turtles are
00:46particularly important because the species is critically endangered. So at one time,
00:51there were only about 200 females left in the world that only found in the Gulf of Mexico,
00:56where they breed on just one or two beaches. And in the last decade or so, they've had
01:00a really good conservation programme for them in Texas. So they've re-established a breeding
01:05site on a beach in Texas, just over the border from the last breeding site in Mexico.
01:11The turtle species only has roughly 7,000 females left. So the issue is pressing for
01:16conservationists. It's a shame that politics has to be the reason it's been made so difficult
01:19for Paul Frosty and their journey back home. But it's something that, while frustrating,
01:24Frankie says they have confidence will be remedied.
01:27But in the meantime, we've had a change in the policies from the Trump presidency. And
01:33as a result, a lot of the people that we're working with, a lot of the organisations we're
01:36working through are either no longer in existence in the future. They're all on a kind of stop
01:43work, a frozen funds situation at the moment. None of these people know whether the funds
01:50will ever be available to do this kind of ongoing work. As you know, we're at the stage
01:54now where we've put all the time and effort and we really want to see this little turtle
01:57back out in the wild. It won't be particularly detrimental if it takes a few more months
02:01or even another year, because in the meantime, we are getting a bigger, healthier turtle,
02:05which is going to do really, really well when it's released.
02:10It's not the only turtle that Anglesey Sea Zoo has taken in. And Frankie is hoping that
02:13they can become a centre for protecting these turtles and will eventually re-home all the
02:17turtles that wash up on our beaches.
02:21But it is really frustrating and it also means that obviously for our future turtles, we're
02:27going to have to come up with a plan. Whatever ends up happening with Rossie, we're now going
02:32to have to start making sure we have a plan for future turtles because we know we're going
02:34to get them. We're building the first turtle rescue centre in the UK because we know we're
02:39getting more turtles and we want to be in a situation where we can do the best for those
02:42turtles. But having successfully repatriated one to the Gulf of Mexico, we were really
02:50hoping the process would be a little bit easier, not more difficult. So it's more frustration
02:55than anything. We are confident we can find a way forward with this.
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