Turtle Patient 157: Moana, Juvenile Olive Ridley
Moana was found entangled in a ghost net by a boat crew from Coco Bodu Hithi at brought to our Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Centre at One & Only Reethi Rah.
The Vitals
Intake Date: 4 September 2021
Patient Number: 157
Rescue Location: South Malé Atoll
Reason: Found entangled
Transport Method: Speed boat
Status: Deceased 12 September 2021
Species: Olive ridley
Scientific Name: Lepidochelys olivacea
Sex: Unkown
Age: Juvenile
Length: 35.5 cm
Weight: 5 kg
Moana has kindly been adopted by Nathalie Popovic.
Moana’s Story
Moana is a very small juvenile Olive Ridley, weighing only 5kg. S/he has very deep cuts on both front flippers and her back left flipper. S/he also has a lot of bite marks from shark attacks. In spite of all this, s/he is very strong and active and will be visiting the Rescue Centre with Xena later this week to be fully assessed by Dr. Claire.
8 September 2021
Unfortunately, little Moana did not survive her injuries and died over night. We will be performing a post mortem to try to determine cause of death.
12 September 2021
In Moana’s post-mortem we found that the damage to her flippers was very severe, and the shark bites had cut straight through her plastron. We determined her cause of death as malnutrition and extensive damage caused by her entanglement. She is now at peace and no longer in any pain.
