Kurangi

Kurangi’s Story

Kurangi, which is the Dhivehi word for the lesser noddy (a seabird), is a juvenile olive ridley. She was found entangled in a ghost net by the staff at Fairmont Maldives – Sirru Fen Fushi where, fortunately, we have our sea turtle biologists, Neus, based. Neus guided the rescue and called the veterinary team for assistance. After a couple of seaplanes and speedboat rides, Kurangi finally arrived at the Rescue Centre.

Both her front flippers had been entangled. Unfortunately, the left one was so severely injured it required amputation. Kurangi also has several abrasions over her head and carapace due to prolonged exposure to debris during entanglement. Her blood work revealed she is anaemic and has an infection, so the veterinary team is monitoring her closely and treating her accordingly.

Kurangi recovered well from her surgery but is staying in our ICU tank for now. She has been eating really well and is feeling much more comfortable.

10 October 2023
Kurangi recovered very well from her second wound debridement surgery. Her wounds are healing nicely and she is showing tremendous improvement since her arrival. We have started her on Targeted External Weight Therapy along with dive training, where we attach buoys to her food. She made such quick progress that we had to increase the depth of the buoys to encourage her to dive deeper. She continues to have a good appetite and is very food motivated. Her blood work too is slowly improving, but as she is still anaemic and fighting infection, the veterinary team will continue to monitor her closely.

14 November 2023
Kurangi’s amputation site is now healed and her right front flipper’s ligature injury too is getting there. We continue to provide cold laser therapy to promote healing as well as pain relief. She is a very active turtle and although she is still unable to fully submerge herself and dive, she is showing good progress. Kurangi is receiving a combination of Targeted External Weight Therapy and dive training using buoys to lower her food in the water column. Kurangi’s blood samples too have shown improvement and she is no longer anaemic! We are monitoring her closely to ensure that her infection comes under control, but overall, we have been very happy with her progress this past month.

12 December 2023
Kurangi is very food motivated. This is helping us challenge her further during her dive training by lowering the buoys attached to her food. She continues to be on Targeted External Weight Therapy. Her blood work is progressing well and we are discontinuing some of her medical therapy. We are keeping a close watch on her to ensure that her infection does not reappear. All her wounds have now fully healed and her cheeky personality continues to enamour everyone who visits her.

8 January 2024
We continue to challenge Kurangi through dive training. The past month presented setbacks due to numerous storms, causing her added stress. However, she has been gradually overcoming these obstacles. Our approach involves the application of Targeted External Weight Therapy along with buoy feeding sessions. Despite some setbacks due to numerous storms causing her added stress in the past month, Kurangi remains one of our most active patients, exhibiting a constant curiosity and keen observation of her surroundings.

11 February 2024
Kurangi has been excelling in all her feeding sessions, and we continue to challenge her diving skills by gradually reducing the submersible buoy length. Fortunately, she boasts the most voracious appetite among all our patients. It’s worth noting that Kurangi has been off all medical therapy for a couple of weeks now and continues to remain stable.

12 March 2024
Kurangi is thriving, demonstrating significant improvement in her dive training. Her determination during buoy feeding enables her to conquer each new challenge set by the team. We are continuing her Targeted External Weight Therapy as part of her ongoing dive training, which we will adjust as she progresses.

7 April 2024
Kurangi is excelling in her dive training, showing remarkable progress with each session. Her determination during buoy feeding sessions enables her to conquer every new challenge presented by the team. Recently, Kurangi achieved a remarkable milestone by successfully diving all the way to the bottom of the tank and feeding from there. Now, our focus shifts to refining Kurangi’s Targeted External Weight Therapy, with the ultimate goal of enabling her to dive effortlessly without it.

7 May 2024
During the past month, Kurangi continued to make strides in her diving control, allowing us to discontinue the buoy feeding technique and transition to independent feeding off the bottom. Recognising Kurangi’s need for more space to expedite her rehabilitation, on May 6th, we transferred her to our newly inaugurated Raa Atoll Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Centre, situated at JOALI BEING.

At this facility, Kurangi will benefit from a much larger enclosure, enabling us to tailor her dive training more precisely to her needs and achievements. The initial week will serve as an adjustment period as Kurangi acquaints herself with her new environment. We’re confident that she’ll thrive with the additional space and specialised care she’ll receive. Our veterinary team will continue to oversee her progress and ensure her well-being.

9 June 2024
Since her transfer to JOALI BEING, Kurangi has made significant improvements. At first, she took some time to acclimatise to her new surroundings. We continued her Targeted External Weight Therapy and started her on buoy feeding training to encourage her diving, and, on May 22nd, Kurangi did her first dive in her new tank, allowing us to discontinue her buoy feeding training! Since then, she has been eating well off the bottom of the tank and has even started resting at the bottom – a significant step in her rehabilitation journey.

7 July 2024
Kurangi has shown drastic improvements in her diving and can now be seen resting at the bottom of the tank. She refuses to eat tuna but enjoys munching on different types of reef fish and prawns. We have slowly started to modify her Targeted External Weight Therapy considering her diving progress.

11 August 2024
Kurangi, with her particular taste for reef fish, is doing excellently. She is now resting at the bottom of both the small and big tanks. We reduced her Targeted External Weight Therapy as she is showing great improvement in her diving abilities. We plan to further reduce the weights in the coming weeks. Kurangi continues to win the hearts of all visitors at JOALI BEING.

8 September 2024
Kurangi is showing incredible progress with her diving abilities and she continues to be a guest favourite at JOALI BEING. She has been eating extremely well and taking impressively long rests at the bottom of the tank. We reduced her Targeted External Weight Therapy and are happy to report that she has continued to dive well since this adjustment.

6 October 2024
Kurangi has been thriving over the last month and remains a very curious and always hungry turtle! We are happy to report that after discontinuing all therapies, including the Targeted External Weight Therapy, Kurangi remains stable and can be found settled at the bottom of the tank almost every morning. She is getting closer to her release date!

2 November 2024
Kurangi has made a remarkable recovery! Recently she has been spending most of her days swimming around her tank, resting comfortably at the bottom, fully in control of her buoyancy, and eagerly eating any food offered. So fourteen months after her rescue, the last six of which she spent at the Raa Atoll Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Centre, we released Kurangi from the beach at JOALI BEING, in the presence of guests and team members who wished her well.