Released
Amber – Arrived 2 March 2021, Released 12 October 2021
Amber did very well in the deep tank at One&Only Reethi Rah. She had full control of her buoyancy, dived often, and rested frequently on the bottom of the tank. She had a slight setback a few weeks ago with an eye infection, but she was given antibiotic eye drops which seemed to work wonders. After seven months with us, Amber finally received the all clear to be released! This morning she went back home to the big blue where she belongs. The boat ride to the release point stressed her out a little bit and the sea was rough, so it took about ten minutes for her to find her bearings and dive down. She was not seen to come back up for air. We will miss Amber but we are so happy she is free again!
Jannicke, Arrived 31 May 2021, Released 28 September 2021
We are thrilled to announce that after four months at the Rescue Centre, Jannicke was finally able to return to her ocean home. Her x-rays looked great following the course of antibiotics she was on for her osteomyelitis (bone infection) in her front flipper. She was released from the beach due to the fact she gets quite stressed from being handled, and it suited her perfectly. After a few seconds of getting her bearings, she crawled off quickly into the ocean, no looking back. We wish her all the best for her onward journeys, and hope that she can get back to nesting soon!
The Resident Patients
Tibby, Arrived 26 July 2021
Tibby’s eye infection has cleared up well and so have the wounds on her carapace. She is eating like a champ and has been able to dive for food in her tank and on sea swims. Tibby still has a way to go before we could consider her releasable, but we hope that as she gains more and more weight, muscle mass and, therefore, strength, she will be able to manoeuvre more easily and will be a better candidate for release. She has gained nearly 3 kilos since she arrived at the end of July, which is great progress!
Bruce, Arrived 4 July 2021
Bruce is loving his new home at One&Only, eating lots of fish and really trying to dive. He has even managed to get his entire shell under the water on several occasions. Bruce still has a long way to go but is looking like he will get back to the ocean in the coming months. He is a determined little turtle – he even managed to flip himself upside down onto his back after trying so hard to dive – so we have high hopes for him!
Xena – Arrived 1 November 2020
Despite remaining fairly active and eating well, Xena continues to struggle with her buoyancy. It was decided that she needed a full veterinary assessment (x-rays, blood tests and an endoscopy) at our Rescue Centre at Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu to get to the bottom of her issues. Xena has been eating well and is fairly active, but she does get easily stressed. After a blood sample last week, being out of water really stressed her out and resulted in a day of not eating. She hasn’t been on a sea swim for the last couple of weeks as she’s still not 100%, but we are happy that she seems brighter in herself. She will be having some more x-rays soon to check on the status of her bone infection.
Discovery – Arrived 7th February 2020
Disco is still very buoyant, however, remains charming and loves her food, so we still hope that when we are able to diagnose the lung damage with our new endoscope, we may also be able to decipher a way of treating her severe buoyancy problem. She did have a a slightly off week last week, with a few days where she didn’t eat. We took a repeat blood sample which appeared to be normal and eventually she started to pick up by herself anyway! We aren’t quite sure what got her down, but thankfully it doesn’t seem to be continuing. We will monitor her closely.
Azura – Arrived 2nd April 2019
Azura has been off all medications now for well over a month and is doing very well. She is still buoyant but has shown good progress on her sea swims. Her most recent sea swim, however, was not too successful as she refused to unlock her back flippers and mostly floated in the sea! But fortunately, she has been doing well when diving for her food on the buoy in her tank – she puts in a lot of effort and remains in good spirits, which we like to see.
Heidi – Arrived 21st April 2018
Heidi is doing great! He has been sharing half a tank with Disco, since we have some ongoing maintenance works on the tanks, and there haven’t been any issues, apart from being very resentful of watching disco drop food and him not being able to reach it! We did have a lead for Heidi’s permanent home with one German zoo but unfortunately that fell through. Some guests gave us the contact of another aquarium in Austria so we will be pursuing that lead. In the meantime, he has been enjoying his sea swims and time out of his tank.
