Meet Beasty, A Sub-Adult Olive Ridley Ghost Gear Victim
Beasty, a sub-adult olive ridley turtle, was rescued from a ghost net in Baa Atoll. She came to us via Atoll Marine Centre and Marine Savers at Four Seasons Landa Giraavaru.
Intake Date: 2nd December 2019
Length: 52.8 cm
Weight: 16.5 kg
Status: Released 6th January 2020
Beasty has been adopted for Kaushik by Jennifer King-Clarke, for Dewald by Emma Holt and by Bill, Jo, Jessica and Harry Phypers.
Released
Beasty was found entangled in a ghost net that had sliced right through her back right flipper, removing her ‘foot’. The bone above the injury was exposed and diseased and she was unable to move her knee.
The best option for a pain-free life for Beasty was to remove the rest of her flipper. We performed flipper amputation surgery the day after she arrived at the Rescue Centre. She has recovered well from the procedure, however, Beasty also has an issue with using her right front flipper so this is strapped at the moment. And she is suffering from buoyancy syndrome, a common effect of ghost gear entanglement. In better news, she began to eat straight away with good pain relief and antibiotics on board.
16 December 2019
Beasty is doing very well this week. She managed to dive to the bottom of her tank so her buoyancy issue is resolving. We are hoping to move her into the big tank soon so she has more space to practice her diving.
23 December 2019
Beasty is almost due to have her stitches out. She has finished her course of antibiotics and she is swimming very strongly. She is about to move to the big tank in preparation for her release.
30 December 2019
Beasty has had her stitches out and she is getting ready to be released. Her right front flipper is still not functioning as well as the left, but she will hopefully be using it normally soon. She is spending her remaining time at the Rescue Centre exercising.
6 January 2020
Beasty was released today – our first released of 2020! She was released along with Esther in a double release, accompanied by a boat-full of guests who wanted to see them off. Beasty didn’t hang around – she went straight down into the deep, happy to be back home.
