Durban — Odin and Duke, two sub-adult green turtles that were admitted to the Sea Turtle Hospital at uShaka Sea World were released recently.
South African Association for Marine Biological Research’s (Saambr) Ann Kunz said that turtle release days are always the best kind of days, especially when releasing a turtle that we thought had almost no chance of survival.
“Today (Thursday) the Saambr team celebrated the recoveries of Odin and Duke, two sub-adult green turtles who were admitted to the Sea Turtle Hospital at uShaka Sea World… with their releases on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast,” Kunz said.
She said that Odin was found by a caring fisherman near the Bluff in October last year. The turtle was in critical condition. He was very lethargic and completely emaciated and dehydrated and the team was worried about his chances of survival.
However, after a good clean and some supportive care, including eight weeks of tube feeding and medication, he started to feed by himself which was a good indication that he was on the mend. After six months of rehabilitation and recovery, gaining a full 10kg, he was cleared for release by our clinical veterinarian.
uShaka Sea World Lead Aquarist – Quarantine & Sea Turtle Rehabilitation, Malini Pather said: “Odin is one of our most remarkable turtle rehabilitation stories as his journey from the brink of death, to passing his pre-release health checks was tough but absolutely incredible. Odin was the hospital sweetheart and managed to charm everyone with his dogmatic resilience. I am overjoyed and really can’t believe that his release day has arrived.”
Odin was fitted with an acoustic tag so that his journey onward can be followed. He also has been flipper tagged and Saambr hopes divers will spot this charmer as he continues exploring the KZN coastline.
Saambr executive manager Maryke Musson said: “At Saambr we have been so fortunate to have been involved in turtle monitoring and research for the past 60 years, and through our Turtle Tagging and Telemetry research project, we continue not only learning about the post-release movements of these astonishing survivors, but we also contribute to a large national and international data set on the oceanic movement of wild and rehabilitated sea turtles.”
Kunz said that Duke, also a sub-adult green turtle, was found floating upside down in a pool of water on Garvies beach in December 2021. On arrival at the Sea Turtle Hospital, Duke was also quite emaciated, lethargic and positively buoyant. Initial diagnostics indicated that he was suffering from an internal gut infection.
He received the right treatment and started eating within three days which is always a good sign. Duke gained a solid 6kg while under our care and was deemed fit for release following his health examination. What a little champ.
“Thank you to all the rescuers, transporters and supporters. Another two endangered sea turtles right back where they belong,” Kunz said.
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