This article was written by the South African Association of Marine Research (SAAMBR).
The KZN Stranding Network once again pulled together to transfer an injured young Green turtle, this week.
She was found struggling between the rocks at Sunwich Port on the lower South Coast, and was transported to our sea animal hospital, late Monday afternoon.
The turtle, who has not yet been named, suffered quite a serious injury to its her front flipper from an entanglement. She was understandably lethargic on arrival, but other than, the flipper injury showed no other obvious signs of illness or injury.
Our animal health team decided to limit stress to this young one and managed her pain throughout the night.
Once she appeared a bit stronger and more responsive the veterinary team did a full medical work up.
She appeared to have suffered a complete open fracture of her left humerus.
This injury is not recent, but at least a few weeks old, and thankfully, the front part of her flipper is still attached with reasonably good blood supply.
Dr Francois Lampen, and his team will be consulting with more specialists to determine if orthopaedic surgery to mend this fracture is an option.
It might be decided that amputation should rather be considered and luckily, we know that many of our other ‘tripod’ turtles made a good recovery and did very well post-release.
Over the next few weeks, we will carefully evaluate all our options taking into account the turtles wellbeing, survival and future contribution towards the conservation of this endangered species.
We wish the team well in their deliberations and trust that when a name is decided on, it will be fitting for such an enduring young turtle.
We would like to extend an extra big thank you to the SPCA and to Santosh from Ezemvelo Wildlife for transporting the brave injured turtle to SAAMBR for specialist care.
We will keep you updated.
Picture: SAAMBR