Injured Green Turtle and Surgery

Yesterday afternoon, volunteers spotted a green turtle attached to a mooring line with a fishing line around the front leg. The flipper was missing and the bone protruding. Oriana, our resident Marine Biologist and Rayner, our Honorary Wildlife Warden, taken care of the turtle, while waiting for specialist vets, the Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU) of Sabah Wildlife Department, to come in our resort. The turtle, probably a male of approximately 15-20 years, was suffering a lot.

A continuous monitoring was executed all the night.

This morning, Dr Pakee and his colleague (from WRU) started the treatments. As first, they measured and weighed the turtle.

After the body measurements, that are crucial to give the right amount of medicine, they rehydrated the turtle, took some blood samples, administered antibiotics and cleaned the wound site.

In the afternoon, our dive centre became an equipped field hospital, and the rescue team performed the surgery to remove part of the protruding bone, trying to avoid infections. A lot of risk factors are involved in this kind of operations, including the use of anaesthetic, haemorrhage and infections.