EXPERTS were this week investigating how a giant turtle died off the coast of Dunbar.

The leatherback turtle was found tangled in creel ropes by a fisherman last Thursday, a mile off the county coast.

The town’s lifeboat crew joined the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) to recover the turtle at about 4.30pm last Thursday.

The animal, which measured about 1.8 metres in length and two metres in girth, had become entangled in creel ends and unfortunately drowned.

The fishing vessel Sea Breeze attended and, with the assistance of the lifeboat, recovered the turtle and brought it ashore, where it was initially examined by the BDMLR.

Dr Andrew Brownlow, a pathologist for the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), is involved with the necropsy at Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland.

He said: “We suspected the turtle may have drowned given it had been caught in the creel ropes but there were a couple of factors which confirmed this. It had bruising on its flippers, head and carapace, and most significantly, congestion of the lungs, which are both very consistent signs of drowning.

“We were also able to determine that the turtle would have been alive when it became caught in the creel ropes, and has then drowned.” Leatherbacks, the largest turtles in the world, nest in the Caribbean and are classed as an endangered species. They can reach up to three metres in length and weigh a ton.

Gary Fairbairn, coxswain for Dunbar Lifeboat, said: “We went out about 3.30pm last Thursday after it had been reported by a couple of fishing vessels.

“We realised that it was a leatherback [turtle] and when we got there it was obvious that it was dead.

“We informed Inverness SMASS, who said they wanted to carry out a necropsy, so the decision was made to bring it back to shore.

“We went out somewhere just after 3.30pm, and by the time we returned it was pitch dark.” The leatherback was one of several found dead off the Scottish coast in recent days, the others at Drumbeg in Sutherland; off the Isle of Coll; and on the Isle of Skye, north of Elgol.

The last sighting of a leatherback turtle in the Forth Estuary took place in 2009. The endangered species, which dates back more than 100 million years, is a rare sight in Scottish waters.

They have been known to die from eating plastic carrier bags which they mistake for jellyfish, their primary food source. Due to large one-way spines in their throats, the leatherbacks cannot regurgitate plastic bags. They either cause a blockage in the reptile’s gut or make it feel full, causing it to stop eating and starve to death.

And Dr Brownlow confirmed they had found plastic when carrying out the necropsy, but added it would not have played a part in the animal’s death.

He said: “It’s hard for a turtle to tell the difference between a plastic bag and a jellyfish, which they eat. The Scottish Government have recently introduced a charge on carrier bags and that is something we fully support.” He added that it is important anyone who finds an animal on the beach or in the sea, reports it. For info visit facebook.com/pages/Scottish-Marine-Animal-Strandings-Scheme/359005850856875