Amal

All Turtle Patients

Meet Amal, A Juvenile Green Ghost Net Victim

Amal is a juvenile green turtle who was rescued by Four Seasons Resort, Landaa Giraavaru, in Baa Atoll.

Intake Date: 22nd November 2019
Length: 44.5 cm
Weight: 9 kg
Status: Transferred back to Four Season on 6th January 2020. Released from there on 7th January 2020.

Amal has been adopted by Edie Crowther, by Dajana Schmidt, and for Franco and Galia by Tania & Ugo.

Amal was found entangled in a ghost net which had cut deeply through her front right flipper, causing a mid-shaft fracture of her humerus. She had a long surgery to try and pull the fracture ends together and stabilize the bone. Now she has a splint and a bandage to immobilize her flipper.

She is quite a character and tells us with her body language that she does not like her antibiotic injections! But they are very important to help aid her healing. She eats sea grass that we weigh down at the bottom of her tank.

2 December 2019
Amal had an x-ray this week and a bone lesion is visible. Osteomyelitis is a common problem that we encounter when turtles are injured by ghost nets. She continues on pain relief and antibiotic cover, however, she really dislikes having injections!

9 December 2019
Amal has been bright and active this week. Her surgery site has unfortunately broken down, however, she still has good blood supply to the tip of her flipper. We are going to continue to try and save the flipper at this stage. She requires another anaesthetic and assessment which will happen in the coming week. 

16 December 2019
Amal had to have her front right flipper amputated. The bone broke down and was very infected, so to remove the infection and make sure she is not in any future pain, the best course of action was to remove the flipper. She recovered well from anaesthetic and was just grumpy that she missed her breakfast on surgery day.

23 December 2019
Amal is coping well with the loss of her flipper. Her appetite is incredible. She has almost finished her course of antibiotics and we plan to remove her stitches in early January.

30 December 2019
Amal is fantastic. We are looking forward to getting her back to her home reef soon. Her stitches come out in the next few days.

6 January 2020
Due to a host of new critical arrivals, Amal was transferred back to Four Season. She was released near the spot where she was rescued on 7th January 2020.