No stopping Durban's Jina the turtle after she escapes becoming tiger shark's lunch

After spending 11 months recuperating from a shark attack at a specialised Durban “hospital”, a loggerhead sea turtle travelled from Cape Vidal on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, where she was released after her recovery, back to where she was saved.

The South African Association for Marine Biological Research (Saambr) said Jina was released at Cape Vidal in December last year after spending months at Ushaka Marine World's sea turtle hospital in Durban.

“She had a partial amputation of both her front flippers after narrowly escaping becoming a tiger shark's lunch near Umkomaas,” Saambr said.

After her long recovery, she was taken to Cape Vidal where she was released.

But it seems the resilient turtle was attached to Durban and made her way back.

“She has been spotted by surfski paddlers, stand-up paddle boarders as well as divers on many occasions and we really enjoy following her daily movements.

“She was fitted with a satellite transmitter before release to enable us to assess how well she adapts to life back in the ocean and she is clearly thriving.

“Since she arrived in Durban, she has covered about 1,131km with a daily average swim of about 10.5km.

“Jina reminds us all to have hope, to be resilient, to be fierce, to not give up, to have grit and to enjoy life in the not-too-fast lane. She is such a champ.”

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