Meet Delilah, An Adult Olive Ridley Ghost Gear Victim
Delilah is an adult female olive ridley turtle. She was rescued from a ghost net by The Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort in Baa Atoll.
Intake Date: 12th December 2019
Length: 58 cm
Weight: 16.3 kg
Status: Deceased 21st December 2019
Delilah has been adopted for Marcus by Susana Valverde Solano, by Tania & Ugo and for Kaushik by Jennifer King-Clarke.
Delilah arrived with severe injuries to one of her front flippers. She had partly self-amputated in the struggle to free herself form the ghost net. The tissue was so rotten that all of the bones were falling out.
Vet Jackie performed surgery to remove the humerus, which was diseased. There was very little skin left to close the the wound so the middle area was left open to heal by secondary intention. Delilah recovered well from the anesthetic and remained stable throughout the surgery.
Delilah has skin lesions all over her body so we expect her healing time to take a while. She is also buoyant and unable to dive. She is currently practicing swimming with three flippers, compensation for the lack of a front flipper by counterbalancing with the opposite back flipper.
21 December 2019
Sadly Delilah’s took a turn for the worse and passed away this morning. Her skin infection was severe and did not improving with antibiotics. She had a raging internal infection that affected her whole gastrointestinal system and there was liver pathology present. The diseases are most likely entanglement related. She had not eaten for ages when she was rescued and had most likely been entangled for some time. Her immune system was shot and she had a severe skin infection from the ghost net injuries.
