A rare albino sea turtle (called a pawikan in the Philippines) was rescued Sunday by some kids who were playing on a beach in the barangay of Dalahican in Lucena City. A barangay is the Filipino term for a village, district or ward.

It was then discovered after a brief investigation that the animal was the same one that was rescued four days earlier by members of Bantay Dagat in Sariaya town, Quezon, about 140 kms southeast of Manila.

Bantay Dagat or Sea Patrol, is a civilian fisheries patrol manned by volunteers that try to keep a 24-hour watch on coastal waters. Their main function is to prevent illegal fishing and to protect the coastline.

Prior to the first rescue the turtle had been under the care of a person named Bayani Santo for about six years. The Bantay Dagat rescuers turned it over to a local “fish technician” who released the animal back into the wild. The children involved in the second rescue reported their find to barangay officials.

Next, Police Lieutenant Colonel Rajo Opelanio, the officer in charge of the Philippine National Police Regional Maritime Unit in Calabarzon, an administrative region in the Philippines, surrendered the animal to Ramil Gutierres, a Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) officer in the city of Tayabas on Aug. 19.

Opelanio said that agriculture and environment personnel attempted to take the turtle back to Bayani Santos but discovered that he was no longer capable of tending to the creature. The turtle is presently under the care of CENRO in Quezon, according to Oceana Philippines, an environmental group.

Albino turtle
An albino turtle was born with an incredibly rare condition. Pictured: A trainer holds a three-week-old albinos turtle Boettgeri at the Turtle Valley animal park in Sorede on October 13, 2015. Getty Images/Raymond Roig

Albinism is a rare genetic condition that occurs once in every 10,000 mammal births in any species including humans. With albinism there is a complete lack of pigment that results in the characteristic near white color and pink or red eyes. A similar condition is leucism where there is reduced pigment producing ability. This can result in a spotted appearance to a near white appearance that can make it hard for the untrained eye to differentiate leucism from albinism.

At first the police said the turtle was an albino, but Oceana Philippines said that it was a leucistic turtle.

RELATED STORIES