Rescued turtle’s death renews call for removal of fishing line on beaches

NORTH, the rescued loggerhead turtle, died on Friday night, 21 February, after surgery.

Ann Kunz, Public Relations Officer for South African Association for Marine Biological Research, said an autopsy will be done on Friday afternoon to determine the cause of death.

“Although her initial recovery post-surgery was good, her condition slowly deteriorated. Turtles unfortunately don’t show clinical signs as strongly as mammals which makes diagnosis and veterinary support a medical challenge,” she said.

North was admitted to uShaka Sea World last Tuesday after being rescued by search and rescue teams on North beach with her left flipper entangled in a fishing line. The constriction had cut off the blood supply to her entire flipper resulting in gangrene. Doctors were left with no choice but to amputate North’s flipper. The doctors were initially confident that North would survive the surgery. Nortth’s death has renewed calls for people to remove fishing lines on the beach as they are harmful to sea animals.

“Perhaps we will remember North when we are walking along the beach and safely dispose of any fishing line we come across,” said Kunz.

Do you want to receive news alerts via Telegram? Send us a message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts

Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.