Naseeb

Naseeb’s Story

Naseeb’s rescuers untangled him from the ghost net, but they noticed that he was struggling to dive and decided he needed more help. He reached the Rescue Centre after two seaplane flights.

Both of Naseeb’s front flippers and his left rear flipper have deep entanglement wounds with bone exposure. Following diagnostics, including X-rays and blood tests, we elected to perform a full surgical debridement under anesthesia, which will take place in a few days time. Meanwhile, Naseeb will be supported with proper nutrition, fluid therapy, pain relief, antibiotics and wound care management.

14 August 2022
We performed a full surgical debridement for Naseeb on the 9th August. The surgery went well and he recovered smoothly after the anesthesia. Although Naseeb started showing increased energy levels and ate well the day after the surgery, he is still not using his left front flipper as often as desired. Follow-up diagnostics will be performed to guide the treatment plan for Naseeb and to assess if all three damaged flippers are salvageable.

21 August 2022
Naeseb had a second round of debridement under light sedation on the 16th August. However, he did not recover as smoothly as expected this time round. He became dull and stopped eating after the procedure. We will continue to monitor him closely and may plan to insert a feeding tube to provide nutritional support to assist the recovery process.

28 August 2022
Since his unfortunate recovery event the other week, Naseeb has intermittently eaten a few prawns but, due to his lack of appetite, he has lost weight. In the meantime, he will be supported with daily fluids. He sometimes uses his left front flipper; movement is minimal but much improved after some physiotherapy. If he continues to lose weight and show no interest in food, extra nutritional support will be given via a feeding tube.

4 September 2022
We have good news about Naseeb this week! The wounds on his flippers and shell are healing well and he has started to eat consistently. We are offering him fish and prawns. He had previously lost weight, however since he started eating, he has maintained the same weight. He is still receiving daily fluids. We are continuing to monitor his weight and hydration status, and we hope to see him gain weight in the next few days.

11 September 2022
Naseeb has gradually regained hydration since he started eating voluntarily with a good appetite over the past few days. His demeanor has improved but his activity level remains low and he is not using his left front flipper as much as we would like. His repeat X-rays revealed suspected osteomyelitis at his left shoulder joint, which is consistent with the poor usage of that flipper. With this, a course of anti-fungals has been added to his treatment plan.

18 September 2022
Naseeb’s appetite has been consistently good throughout the week and he has successfully put on some weight. He is much more active now, but is still not using his right front flipper. His recent wound assessment revealed signs of infection at his right front flipper with discharge from the wound. We will conduct more frequent wound cleaning sessions and closely monitor the wound healing progress.

25 September 2022
We have adjusted Naseeb’s diet plan as his body weight remained low. His appetite is fine and he seems a bit brighter lately. We will assess his wounds again this week and have scheduled more physiotherapy sessions for him as he is still not using his left front flipper.

2 October 2022
Naseeb’s appetite has been back to normal this week. However, his repeat X-rays revealed signs of deterioration at his left shoulder joint infection. Due to this, we have adjusted his treatment plan and will be repeating the X-rays at his left shoulder at a fortnightly interval to monitor his healing progress. He is currently on a course of antibiotics, fluid therapy, pain relief, and topical wound care management.

9 October 2022
Naseeb’s appetite has been excellent and we have gradually increased his daily feed to help him put on more weight. He is also very active, however, the movement at his left front flipper remained minimal except during diving. We have therefore decided to switch him to a larger tank to provide him with more space to dive and to use his left front flipper more often.

16 October 2022
Naseeb continues to gain weight and we continue to increase his food appropriately. He is enjoying life in a medium tank and is readily diving for food. However, the movement in his left flipper is still limited. As we continue his treatment, we hope to see the flipper movement improve and that more diving will accelerate the recovery.

23 October 2022
Naseeb continues to do well. His appetite reduced slightly earlier in week but he is feeling back to normal now. His weight gain is slow but consistent. Unfortunately, his right shoulder is still very painful for him due to the bone infection. He continues to be treated for this. His shell wounds have almost all completely healed and his diving and buoyancy improve every day.

30 October 2022
Naseeb still refuses to use his left front flipper, likely due to discomfort. He is currently on a course of pain relief, antibiotics, antifungals and topical wound care management. We are closely monitoring his left shoulder joint for bone infection.

6 November 2022
Naseeb’s shell is completely healed–now which is such great news! He has a great appetite and dives well even without the use of his left flipper, which is still causing us some concern. The left shoulder joint is still suffering from a bone infection, he is on treatment for this, including pain reliefm and we hope to see some improvement soon.

13 November 2022
Naseeb is eating and diving brilliantly. He is due some repeat X-rays and blood work, so stay tuned for these results. We are happy with his progress after such a rocky start at the centre. We are hoping that he starts to use his left front flipper soon, currently there is no improvement in mobility.

20 November 2022
Naseeb has gone from strength: he’s swimming really well and has a great appetite. Sadly, howeve,r there has been no improvement in his front left flipper. We have therefore decided that it will be in his best interest to have an amputation so that he can be released sooner. The flipper is the only thing holding him back now!

27 November 2022
Naseeb had surgery on his front left flipper last Monday. The surgery and anaesthetic went well: he recovered very quickly and was returned to the tank the next morning. His stitches (sutures) are holding nicely and we hope for a quick recovery for him so that he can be released ideally before Christmas!

4 December 2022
Naseeb is continuing to heal well after his surgery a fortnight ago. He’s diving and eating well, so on track to be released before the New Year.

10 December 2022
Naseeb was doing very well and the sutures were holding, but now, 3 weeks post-surgery, a couple of stitches have come away, so we will also be performing regular wound care on Naseeb’s wound. Unfortunately, the remaining front flipper ,which was also damaged by the net, has caused a chip of bone to break off his humerus (top flipper bone). This will need to be surgically removed to continue to heal well. So unfortunately, he requires a follow up surgery before he is releasable.

14 December 2022
Naseeb underwent surgery yesterday to have the bone fragment removed from his right front flipper. Unfortunately, he did not pull through, and he passed away on the morning of the 14th December. 

As with all our patients, we conduct a thorough post mortem to see if we can find a cause for the Naseeb’s passing. We found that he was in multi-organ failure with severe infection in several organs. We were incredibly surprised that Naseeb was behaving so normally up until this point. We are relieved that Naseeb will no longer be suffering.