Meet Burrito, the Largest Turtle Patient We’ve Ever Had
Burrito is an adult female Olive Ridley turtle. She was rescued by Kuredu resort in Lhaviyani Atoll and sent to us by speedboat.
Intake Date: January 30th 2018
Length: 70 cm
Weight: 37.8 kg
Released: August 8th 2018
Burroti hs been adopted by Daniella and by Pamela McMillan
Burrito had multiple injuries due to being entangled in ocean plastic. She underwent a four hour surgery the day she arrived to repair the damage. Unfortunately, she needed a back flipper amputation. Her front left flipper was severely damaged too, including a broken bone.
Incredibly she still had function of this flipper. We desperately tried to save it, but eventually we had to amputate the front flipper too. In addition, she also had a deep wound around her neck that needed surgical treatment.
She recovered from her surgeries with daily wound care, antibiotics and pain relief. Burrito is now a completely rehabilitated single-sided double amputee. Luckily, Burrito does not suffer from buoyancy and she is very good at swimming and diving. She can even resist the current when she is taken to the ocean for swimming lessons. Check out the video below of one of her ocean swimming lessons!
