Dubai Three to four year olds from Dubai British School released Crush, their own highly endangered Hawkesbill Turtle, from Burj Al Arab’s private beach on April 8 with a tracker they bought with their money.
The foundation stage students who visited Jumeirah’s Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Centre as part of a ‘Dubai, Sand and Sea’ school project ended up raising funds for the satellite tag to help rehabilitate one the turtle. The Burj Al Arab’s Aquarium team released 20 other rehabilitated hawksbill turtles along with Crush.
DBS’ Head of Foundation said: “The children were touched by the turtle stories of rescue and wanted to donate money. However, the centre does not take donations so they decided to collect Dh1 coins to buy a tracker for the release of a turtle. They chose a turtle and named him Crush. They were so excited to see him swim away.”
Student Liam, 4, said: “The turtles were having a race to the sea – Crush was so speedy, I love the turtles,”
His classmate Zayan, also 4, said: “Crush went fast like a jet,
The children were given a small turtle toy to take home and were provided ice lollies and fruit on the beach. The turtle will be tracked and his journey mapped through the tracker.
