Loggerhead turtle Molly returns to the wild after 20 years of rehab in Kerry aquarium

After more than 20 years in a Kerry aquarium and more than six months in a specialist sea turtle rehabilitation centre in Portugal, Molly the turtle made her way back to the wild.On Wednesday afternoon, the loggerhead was released back into warmer Atlantic waters with a satellite tracker, off the coast of Portimao in Portugal.Molly first came to Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium in 2004 after washing up on the Maharees in Castlegregory, Co Kerry, with severely injured flippers.In April, she was flown, in a specially made box and covered in Vaseline to avoid drying out, to Portugal to enter Zoomarine, a specialist sea turtle rehabilitation centre.READ MOREMolly the loggerhead turtle ahead of her release in Portugal this week. Photograph: Kevin Flannery/Oceanworld Aquarium Oceanworld founder Dr Kevin Flannery said Molly was assessed and underwent medical tests and “serious” examinations at Zoomarine, gaining 10kg of weight.The public will soon be granted access to satellite tracking data to follow Molly’s position. Flannery is eager to see if she returns to the Gulf of Mexico, where he believes she is from. DNA samples from Molly matched those of Gulf turtles.Molly was “lively” the closer she got to the sea during the release, assisted by the Portuguese Navy. “She must have smelled the salt water,” Flannery said.Molly the loggerhead turtle being released into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portimao in Portugal on Wednesday. Photograph: Kevin Flannery Flannery previously told The Irish Times he was not sure what happened to Molly when she was found in Maharees but suggested the injuries to her flippers could have resulted from a shark attack.He reckoned Molly got caught up in a storm in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean and was carried northward up into the North Atlantic, too weak to fight a transatlantic current carrying her across the sea towards Europe until she ended up in Kerry.He is hopeful she will start breeding, adding that nesting sites are being “wiped out”. He previously confirmed that X-rays show she has eggs.Loggerhead turtles can live for more than 80 years and reach sexual maturity after the age of 25. Molly is thought to be in her 30s.Flannery is “delighted” Molly is being released back into the wild but said he is “sorry to see her go”.He said it was “great” to see her returning to the wild. At first, he said, she was “quite small” and wasn’t great at swimming, but after some feeding and rehabilitation, she began to “thrive” in the tank.“We never thought she’d survive . . . with two front flippers virtually gone.”He described her as a “powerful” swimmer now.He said at Oceanworld, they learned “so much” from Molly, which will help them treat other turtles in the future. While he feels both happiness and sadness, he said it is “important for animals like Molly to get back to the wild”.