Nakaiy

Nakaiy, a female adult olive ridley turtle, was rescued by the Kuredu ProDivers team in Lhaviyani Atoll. When they discovered that she had a deep ligature injury on her front left flipper and was unable to dive, they immediately called our veterinary team for assistance. Nakaiy first spent a night at Kuredu Island Resort & Spa under the supervision of our sea turtle biologist in Lhaviyani, María. The next day, TMA flew her by seaplane to the Marine Turtle Rescue Centre in Baa Atoll.

In Dhivehi, the Maldivian language, Nakaiy can mean “constellation”, and it is also the name of the indigenous calendar system that predicts the weather in the Maldives. Nakaiy has entanglement injuries around her neck, mouth and left front flipper. The latter is quite severe and on X-rays, that limb looks quite diseased. We immediately started providing critical care in the hope of keeping her front flipper. She has been adjusting well to her surroundings and is eating and diving, although she doesn’t seem to be able stay submerged for long periods yet.

8 January 2024
This month we have started Nakaiy on Targeted External Weight Therapy to encourage her diving behaviour. She has shown a healthy appetite, resulting in weight gain, and her blood work has shown a positive trend towards normalisation. Her ligature wounds are progressing remarkably well, thanks to consistent wound cleaning and the application of cold laser therapy.

11 February 2024
Nakaiy was upgraded to our largest tank after Dhontha’s release. Here, she has demonstrated remarkable progress by attempting to dive and staying submerged. Although she still experiences some difficulties and tires more quickly than we would prefer, her motivation to persevere remains strong, mirroring our own commitment to her recovery.

Her appetite continues to be excellent, and we use the feeding sessions to train her in diving. To counter the persistent reduced range of motion in her left front flipper, we have initiated a physiotherapy regimen and continue with cold laser therapy.

12 March 2024
Nakaiy has made significant progress with her dive training. The team is taking full advantage of the large tank space by introducing submersible buoy feeding for Nakaiy, alongside her Targeted External Weight Therapy. This has yielded remarkable results, and Nakaiy can now dive almost to the bottom of the tank and remain submerged for extended periods, demonstrating improved buoyancy control. We are using physiotherapy and cold laser therapy to enhance her mobility in her left front flipper, which still exhibits some lingering reduced range of motion.

7 April 2024
Nakaiy continues to show improvements in her buoyancy control. Unfortunately, she had to be moved out of the largest tank to give space to our big boy Karaa, but that has not demotivated her from trying to dive. We are persisting with her tailored dive training which includes Targeted External Weight Therapy and submersible buoy feeding. We are also looking forward to discontinuing her medical therapy as she has been showing normalised blood work and X-rays over the past weeks.

Adopt Nakaiy

We ask for a minimum one time gift donation of £50 to adopt a turtle patient. £50 will contribute to the cost of medical therapy for one patient for two weeks. You can also choose to make a monthly donation of your choice.

Once we receive confirmation of the donation and your adoption form (please make sure the names on the donation and adoption forms match), we will issue the adoption certificate with details about the turtle patient to you or the gift recipient. Please allow 7 days for the issuing of the certificate.

By adopting one of our turtle patients, you will contribute towards the cost of our patients’ veterinary care, medications, and transport. You will also help fund our core charitable objectives to protect sea turtles and their habitats through rescue and rehabilitation, scientific research, and education and outreach.