Meet Bishy, An Adult Female Olive Ridley Ghost Gear Victim
Bishy is a large adult female olive ridley. She was found in a very sorry state with her front right flipper severely decayed. She was brought to us by Soneva Jani Resort in Noonu Atoll.
Intake Date: 9th January 2020
Length: 58.3 cm
Weight: 18.85 kg
Status: Released 29th March 2020
Bishy has been adopted by Roz Colthart and by Matthew & Cara.
Released
Bishy was found entangled in a ghost net which cut into her front right flipper, leaving it lacking a blood supply so the limb died. She also had a deep laceration to the front left flipper and the back right flipper.
13 January 2020
Surgery was performed on 11th January and the dead flipper was removed. The other front flipper was salvaged as best as possible and the back flipper was debrided and sutured.
She is also suffering from buoyancy syndrome but she has started to eat now, so we are hoping she is on her road to recovery.
20 January 2020
Bishy does not like fish but she loves prawns and likes calamari. She has long road to recovery as her many wounds require regular wound care, but at the moment she is cruising along ok.
28 January 2020
Bishy is still being a fussy eater. Some days she likes fish, other days she doesn’t. We are trying to cater to her food requirements. She is healing, but it is happening slowly.
3 February 2020
Bishy prefers prawns over all else – this girl has expensive taste! She is eating some fish now, but still spits out some to show her disgust that fish is not a prawn! She is continuing with her wound care and antibiotics.
10 February 2020
Bishy had an ultrasound last week. She was putting on an unusual amount of weight and we were worried that she was having liver trouble with fluid accumulating in her body. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. Her liver does not look healthy and has multiple nodules. She seems well in herself, however, and is eating everything this week. She will continue her course of antibiotics and we will be monitoring her closely.
17 February 2020
Bishy is doing extremely well. She is diving more and sometimes we catch her on the bottom of the tank resting. It should not be long before her buoyancy issues resolve. She is eating well and continues on her antibiotics for her liver issues and wounds, which are healing slowly. She also had her stitches out this week.
25 February 2020
Bishy is cruising along. She has her last iron injection this week and will have a repeat blood test next week to check on her anaemia. Her wounds are looking much better and she will hopefully not require any more antibiotic cover if her bloodwork looks good.
2 March 2020
Bishy has moved into the big tank where she has more space to practice her diving. Her wounds look better at every wound treatment. She is just working on her controlling her buoyancy now.
26 March 2020
Bishy has such a calm and gentle nature. Her wounds have healed really well. We have caught her resting at the bottom several times and her diving is great. Bishy has been taking it in turns with Sandy in the big tank so that they can both practice their diving before their release. Due to the corona virus, boat excursions aren’t running, so the release will be from the beach since there won’t be much boat traffic.
29 March 2020
Bishy was a little hesitant when she was placed on the sand to be released. She seemed a bit shocked by the change in environment! But as soon as she saw us approaching she realised this was her chance! She eventually swam off and followed Sandy into the deep blue. Bishy has been through a lot and we are so happy and proud that she made a full recovery in a relatively short time – it was wonderful to see her back in the sea.
