ORP Turtle Patient Update Issue 5|2019

Moofushi is a juvenile olive ridley turtle and ghost net victim who was sent to us by sea plane from Constance Moofushi Resort in Ari Atoll.

When Moofushi arrived, her front right flipper was just barely still attached. The humeral bone was completely cut. We had no option but to amputate her flipper. She recovered well from surgery and after a few weeks rehabilitating in our tanks, she was released.

Cloud, a rare white turtle, belongs to the green sea turtle species. She was rescued from the ocean in Male atoll, where she was found floating in the ocean and unable to dive down. Cloud’s rescuers tried to release her on two occasions, but she kept floating at the surface. They called the Rescue Centre for advice and we recommended that she came to the centre for a health check. Cloud took a seaplane from Male to Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu in Baa Atoll. The first night at the Rescue Centre she stayed mostly at the surface. However, the next day we found Cloud happily resting on the bottom of her tank.

Coral was a juvenile olive ridley turtle. She arrived at the Rescue Centre by sea plane from Four Seasons Kuda Huraa in North Male Atoll with severe flipper injuries from ghost net entanglement.

Coral’s front left flipper was rotting at the bottom when she arrived at the Rescue Centre. We performed surgery to amputate her flipper, however, her muscle and skin were very infected and we were unable to remove all of infected tissue. She recovered well from the surgery, but she was extremely lethargic and died over night a few days later.

Phantom was an adult female olive ridley ghost net victim who was rescued by Lux Resort in Ari Atoll. She arrived in a very bad way.

Phantom was dehydrated and had deep wounds to three flippers from ghost net entanglement. Infection exposed almost her whole skull with little skin remaining on her head. She also had a large area of bone exposed on her shell from infection. On top of all this she weighed 10 kgs less than a turtle her size should.

Taloola is another juvenile female olive ridley turtle who was rescued from ghost net entanglement. She arrived by sea plane from Gilli Lankafushi in North Male Atoll.

Taloola needed a flipper amputation, but she is doing well post surgery and is both eating and diving.

Azura is an adult female olive ridley turtle. She arrived with a severely infected front flipper after being entangled in a ghost net.

She was rescued near Dharavandhoo island in Baa Atoll and we collected her by speedboat. She needed an amputation and, so far, is responding well to treatment, but has not started eating yet.

Joy arrived to us from Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru in Baa Atoll. She is an adult female olive ridley and ghost gear victim.

Joy needed a flipper amputation upon arrival.

Florence is a juvenile olive ridley found at our neighbour resort of Vaakaru. She is suffering from severe buoyancy syndrome. We have x-rayed her, are running lab tests and have tried to remove the trapped air causing her buoyancy. We are also treating her with fluids as she is very weak.

Chrissi also came to us from Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru. She has a very swollen flipper from being entangled in a ghost net. We performed x-ray and ultrasound exams and are trying our best to save her flipper and avoid an amputation. She is currently not using her flipper, but we hope that with time and treatment she will recover.

Boston recovered well from surgery to 3 flippers: They all completely healed and he had full function. As soon as he has had his stitches out, he was released.

Happy Feet completely healed from his surgery and was released as soon as he had his stitches out.

Lakmon recovered quickly from the surgery to amputate his flipper and was released as soon as the stitches were removed.

Giuliana, a strong a resilient turtle with no signs of buoyancy syndrome, recovered quickly from surgery. She was released as soon as her stitches were out.

Jamie was not eating with us and at post mortem we found that she had an extremely enlarged and infected liver, which is her likely cause of death. Despite being on antibiotics her disease was too severe to overcome.

Heidi remains healthy and eats well, but she is still not using her front flipper.

We have been monitoring Eve closely after discovering a bone infection in her shoulder joint. We are very pleased with her progress after a month of treatment. Her shoulder joint is looking much better and bone is regenerating.

She has started moving her flipper for the first time and we are helping her along by treating her with physiotherapy. She remains on antibiotics for the time being.

Lynn had 2 further procedures to remove air from her body. After the second procedure she started diving!

We repeated the procedure a third time to try and cure her buoyancy but this time she re-inflated and is now buoyant again. There is a chance that creating negative pressure in her again caused air to leak out of an active lung tear.

Artemis had a second surgery to remove an infected fragment of bone left after a ghost net broke one of his flipper bones in half. He is currently recovering from surgery.

Nemo is doing well. He has had 2 surgeries but has a really bad elbow infection.  We are treating this and he recently used his front flipper for first time.

Moodhu Vina has developed an elbow infection, so she has to stay with us a while longer. We were hoping for a quick release, but with this condition she will be with us many more months unfortunately.