Durban — A large green turtle that had stranded and was rescued on a South Coast beach over the weekend did not survive the night despite efforts to get the turtle help from a marine biological research association.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Shelly Beach station commander Gary Wolmarans said that at 6.08pm on Saturday, the NSRI Shelly Beach crew responded to St Michaels Beach following eyewitness reports, from C-Bali restaurant staff, of a stranded sea turtle that appeared to be injured.
“On arrival on the scene, the sea turtle was collected and brought to our NSRI station 20 rescue base,” Wolmarans said.
He said staff at Durban’s Sea World had been alerted.
“We loaded the sea turtle into our NSRI rescue vehicle and transported the sea turtle to KZN Sea World where the sea turtle remains in their care for rehabilitation at Sea World,” Wolmarans said.
He added that the eyewitnesses at C-Bali restaurant were commended for alerting NSRI.
According to a Facebook post by Scott Kvalsvig in the Tidy Towns Shelly to Margate group on Saturday night: “A big Thanks To NSRI Station 20, C-Bali Restaurant, Maser Security and various other organisations and volunteers the turtle is on the way to Saambr.”
“What great community support and interest in our marine animals’ welfare.”
“We are indeed fortunate to have such a dedicated team from NSRI Station 20. They (are) always willing to go the extra mile,” Kvalsvig said.
South African Association for Marine Biological Research (Saambr) spokesperson Nikhiel Singh said that on Saturday evening, NSRI Shelly Beach was alerted to a large turtle that had stranded on St Michaels Beach.
“The team responded swiftly and transported him to the uShaka Sea World turtle rehabilitation centre, but he unfortunately did not survive the night,” Singh said.
He said that uShaka Sea World lead aquarist Malini Pather was on standby to receive the large (100kg) turtle.
Singh explained that when an animal like this is brought in, the team is very conscious that the animal may be a little stressed. If there are no visible injuries, they allow the animal to stabilise on its own before any treatment. They do a quick assessment of the animal’s strength, check for external parasites, give them fluids, look for visible injuries and monitor their demeanour for signs of trauma or stress. If there are any visible injuries, they treat the animal with pain meds and antibiotics.
“In Saturday’s case, the large male green turtle (Chelonia mydas) was weak, but not overly dehydrated. He had one visible lesion but was carrying an extremely large parasite load. He is estimated to be over 50 years old,” Singh said.
“The cause of death is not yet certain, but this will hopefully be clearer once a post-mortem is performed.”
Pather expressed her deep appreciation and gratitude to the incredible team that works tirelessly on cases like these. They drove on a Saturday night with a sliver of hope to save this ocean ambassador. The dedicated KZN Stranding Network is a beacon of hope for such cases.
WhatsApp your views on this story at 071 485 7995.
Daily News