Sea turtle keeps attacking swimmers in Croatia, and authorities can't relocate it

In the coastal area of Kaštela in Croatia, a loggerhead sea turtle has attacked swimmers on more than one occasion. According to local media, the animal sneaks up on people from behind and bites them, leaving bleeding wounds.

One of the most recent incidents involved a boy: the turtle approached him from behind and bit him in the lower back, causing a wound that bled heavily. The boy's mother told the regional news site Portal Kaštela that she called emergency services, and that the situation is "starting to become seriously worrying" — the turtle keeps returning to the same area and surfaces right next to bathers.

According to her, the animal attacks completely unprovoked — people don't touch or disturb it in any way. Many holidaymakers are now afraid to go into the sea. "The only advice we were given was to seek emergency medical care and get a tetanus shot. But the main problem remains unresolved: the animal keeps showing up among the swimmers," the woman added.

Another witness who was in the water at the time confirmed the attack. "My husband and I were just five meters away from it, right there in the water. The turtle keeps attacking, and honestly, we're now really uneasy about going into the sea. We all breathed a sigh of relief thinking it had swum away, but it's back again," she said. According to available information, it appears to be the same animal responsible for all the attacks.

The first loggerhead turtle attacks were recorded between Poštanski and Šulavi beaches in late July. As the website Morski notes, the turtle would catch swimmers off guard, and in some cases the wounds had to be stitched up.

A protected species won't be relocated

Experts interviewed by Croatian media describe the situation as highly unusual. "This is a completely extraordinary situation — loggerhead turtles attacking people. This isn't typical behavior for them; they aren't aggressive," Pero Tutman of the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Split told Portal Kaštela.

According to him, turtles normally do the opposite — avoiding people and fleeing at the sight of a human or a boat, diving deep and swimming away when a vessel approaches. The expert added that the location of the incidents is also unusual: the area around Kaštela is not known as a nesting site for loggerhead turtles.

Croatia's Ministry of Environment also commented on the situation, refusing to relocate the animal since it belongs to a strictly protected species. According to the ministry, capturing and moving it would cause stress and constitute interference in the life of a wild animal, requiring serious scientific justification — and simply releasing the turtle elsewhere at sea offers no guarantee it wouldn't return. The ministry said it continues to monitor the situation and advised swimmers to be cautious and head back to shore if they spot the turtle.

Read also: 8 best swimming spots near Prague: lakes, quarries and beaches within an hour of the capital

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz