Injured Olive Ridley turtle on the mend

Rescued Olive ridley sea turtle being treated at The Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary in Chennai on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: Akhila Easwaran

A badly injured Olive Ridley sea turtle that washed up on Chennai’s shores is on the mend, thanks to a remarkable rescue and rehabilitation effort by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department.

Missing a flipper and with a severely injured hind leg, the turtle could barely move when it was found. However, after weeks of care, it’s now showing encouraging signs of recovery.

Manish Meena, the Wildlife Warden of Chennai, explained, “Our team found the turtle at Uthandi on 7 April. It was injured but still alive, so we consulted with the Chief Wildlife Warden and decided to transport it to the Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary for treatment. Two of our veterinarians worked on the case.”

The turtle was also severely dehydrated. After the initial care, including giving it enough hydration, the team at BMAD continued their assessment. Shravan Krishnan from BMAD said that they initially couldn’t understand why the turtle wasn’t eating and was regurgitating the feed.

Then, led by K. Sridhar, surgeon from the Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Vandalur, the team did an oral examination, and found the tip of a shiny metal object. After sedation, they assessed and found that a fishing hook had been lodged in the pharynx.

“We retrieved the object. It turned out to be a blind hook and luckily no thread was attached to it,” said Dr. Sridhar. The turtle was then taken to the Tamil Nadu Animal Veterinary Sciences (TANUVAS) for a CT scan and an endoscopy to ensure there were no remnants of the foreign object.

Then, the open fracture in the right leg flipper was also treated. For turtles, front flippers are important as they help the animals to dive. But since this turtle had lost the flipper, it might be floating on the surface and when the hook was given with a live bait perhaps to lure fishes, the turtle would’ve ingested it, explained Dr. Sridhar.

Rakesh Kumar Dogra, Chief Wildlife Warden, said that while turtles face numerous threats in the sea, it is crucial to minimise human-induced turtle fatalities near the shore.

Veterinarians and Forest Department officials stressed that during the turtle nesting season, which runs from December to May every year, fishing activities should be carried out cautiously.