Turtle in need of some TLC

Haven’t reported for a while – thankfully it’s been a bit quieter with the colder weather.  Of course there’s always birds in trouble if you go looking.

This young lady, a green sea turtle, was picked up by one of our local pro fishermen as she didn’t ‘look right’.  A quick call to our mate Lindsay of SOSSA to come with me to assess her resulted in the determination with his expert eye that she had an infection. 

So, with the assistance of our Australian Seabird Rescue team member, Liz, she was off to Taronga zoo hospital for diagnosis and after xrays and blood tests plus two days in care she was cleared to be released back where she came from.

Team member Paul picked her up from the hospital and he and Lindsay released  her to continue to grow and hopefully go back to sea and breed in a few years.

A good team effort with a great result.

Betty

TOURIST TURTLES

Kate holding the second Green Turtle found off Wollongong within a month. This poor creature died due to plastic ingestion!

If only that were true - two sub adult green turtles within a month of each other! Both of the turtles should have been in North Queensland, not in the cold waters of Wollongong. So something was obviously very wrong.

The first turtle was found south off Wollongong with damage to his ‘shell’, possibly a boat strike. The second turtle found just to the north (spotted by a member of the public, Anthony and his children). The turtle was covered in seagrass and presenting as quite unwell, seen here with Australian Seabird Rescue team member Kate.

Being under license to National Parks, and required to contact them immediately regarding turtles, they were both transported to the ‘ magic’ team of vets at Taronga Zoo Hospital. After overnight care with Kay turtle 1 and Katie turtle 2, turtle number 1 will happily be released after repair work and R and R. Turtle number 2 unfortunately died at the zoo and an autopsy was carried out to find out why. Yep, you guessed it- a plastic shopping bag!

So this poor creature has drifted south on the current-  starving hungry - in pain with her intestines ‘Clagged’ up- unable to dive. In such a bad way she’s even been ignored by sharks.

Come on everyone- when are we going to wake up! Please if you see a discarded piece of plastic please pick it up and put it in a bin- if everyone did this it would make a big impact on what ends up in the ocean. Think twice about balloons also, especially helium-yeh they look good-yeh kids love them- but where do most end up? Yep- the ocean. ASR successfully lobbied the NSW Government to ban the mass release of balloons at Government and sporting events.

You see- floating in the water they look like jelly blubbers-the staple diet of many sea creatures and pelagic sea birds. We also just lost an endangered Northern Giant Petrel, most likely to plastic ingestion. 

Please- Stop- Think- Look- Act!!!

The ocean is part of our ‘life blood’. If we keep abusing it, the end result will be catastrophic to both human and creature existence. Even on pristine Lord Howe Island adult and baby birds that have died have had an unbelievable amount of plastic in their gut.

We do like to tell good stories- so if we all pull together it will make it a lot easier to do this.

Betty

Boat Strike on a Green Turtle

This juvenile Green Turtle has had a terrible encounter with mankind it appears. Picked up at Shell cove by Australian Seabird Rescue team member Kay after a call from the police late on a Friday afternoon. National Parks were notified immediately as we are required to do. Due to the late hour however no rangers were available so Kay took him into care overnight to be picked up and transported to Taronga Zoo hospital by National Parks the next morning, where under their expert care he should be able to be released after repairs to the damage to his shell.

He's been out there awhile as you can see in the photo held by team member Kathryn. He has quite a bit of growth on his shell but the end result should be good. Thank you to the public for caring enough to call us.

Betty

ASR team member Kathryn holding the Green Turtle which has damage to its shell due to a boat strike.

Hawksbill Turtle in Batesman Bay

Here is a Hawksbill Turtle which was rescued recently. These turtles are from the warm waters of the tropics. This poor thing must have been swept down on the strong ocean currents. It was found on its back, covered with sand at Batemans Bay and seemed to be dead. Thankfully a lady rang Australian Seabird Rescue at 7am after she had taken the turtle home and put it in her shower. Rhonda contacted the NPWS after hours service and they were going to take it to Taronga Zoo that day. Unfortunately they didn't and it spent the night with NPWS. Rhonda wasn't going to wait any longer! She got a lady to bring it up from Batemans Bay and they met at Kiama. Rhonda and Bill then took it straight to Sydney. They were very upset that it hadn't got there sooner. It was very cold, dehydrated and pinkish underneath which means it could have an infection or it may have swallowed plastic. At least its in good care now and we hope it survives.

Bill shows the Hawksbill Turtle to onlookers at Kiama

The Turtle ready to travel to Taronga Zoo