The visit to the island starts on a somber note.

Hovering over an operating table in a small room, 18-year-old high school student Alessandro Wegher is performing an autopsy on a loggerhead tortoise that was not able to be saved.

The loggerhead - a carnivorous species that can live up to 140 years and measure up to 1.5 meters (nearly five feet) - is considered an endangered species at risk of extinction, according to the World Conservation Union, an international organization dedicated to preserving biodiversity.

The loggerhead feeds on everything it finds along its way, including jellyfish, algae and shellfish, and sometimes also plastic bags that ravage its system.

"But most of the time, hooks used to catch swordfish are what kill them," Wegher said as he removed his operating mask. Wegher traveled from the north of Italy to volunteer at the WWF center during his summer vacation.

"If the hook is stuck in the animal's mouth, then it is possible to remove easily," he said, holding up a hook about 12 centimeters (five inches) long. "But if the hook pierces the esophagus or if the fishing line winds down into the intestines, then intervention becomes much more delicate," Wegher said.

The local fishermen have become some of the closest allies of the 20-some volunteers who have paid frequent visits to area fisheries in recent months to raise awareness about their cause.

"Some of them bring us turtles that they've injured involuntarily, but it is impossible to know how many other injured animals are never brought in," said Daniela Freggi, a 40-year-old teacher who splits her time between her job and the WWF island center that she directs.

The various kinds of Mediterranean sea turtles - many of which appear on vulnerable or endangered species lists - are also threatened by the urbanization of beaches, which encroaches on the tortoises' natural habitat.

The Lampedusa center - which each year treats some five hundred turtles - has a sophisticated facility that includes a radiology and ultrasound lab, and an "operating" room where periodically a specialist visits to help with some of the more difficult operations.

Outside the center under a large white tent, a dozen water chambers provide a cramped recovery space for treated turtles. In a larger tank above, a tortoise is being administered a special diet to help it to digest and expel an ingested fish hook.

The WWF facility welcomes visitors to its 1,500 square meter (16,140 square feet) center free of charge, and runs a museum that is open from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

But it is the sandy periphery of the Lampedusa center where volunteers say they find their greatest reward.

At the Cala Madonna beach - couched between two cliffs forming an amphitheater - the periodic "liberation of the tortoises" evokes emotional responses from volunteers and draws hundreds of tourists who gather to watch the sea creatures return to nature.

"It's always an extremely emotional moment when you see the turtles leave the beach, entering the water slowly and then disappearing," said Carmella Maggiore, a 30-year-old who always finds her way to the front of the crowd stationed on the sand bar that overlooks the beach.

So far this year, volunteers at the WWF Lampedusa center have treated and freed 136 loggerhead turtles.

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