It’s back to the ocean for rescued green turtle
After a year of care at SAAMBR’s Sea Turtle Hospital, a fussy vegetarian turtle rescued from Christmas Bay is released.
Noël is going home, just in time for Christmas.
Last year, in late November, a large female green turtle, aptly named Noël, was found stranded at Christmas Bay and brought to the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) Sea Turtle Hospital at uShaka Sea World.
She was positively buoyant (floating on the surface) and presented with shell damage, while her blood work showed she was fighting off infections.
With plenty of love, care, and patience from the animal health team, Noël has made a remarkable recovery over the past year.
“She’s an active sea turtle and a strict (and fussy) vegetarian, refusing to eat anything other than algae, so we had to carefully manage her activity levels to help her gain weight. Noël is highly responsive and always appreciates a good old back scratch, and we are confident that she will thrive back in the ocean, where she will have access to a diversity of sea plants to graze on throughout the day” said SAAMBR Aquarist, Timothy Smith.
The decision was made to release her near Port Shepstone, in the same area where Andy, a male green turtle was recently released.
Ann Kunn of SAAMBR said they were fortunate to receive a satellite tag from the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation for Andy, allowing them to track his movements, something they rarely get to do with male sea turtles.
“Since his release near the Mzimkhulu Estuary, he has mostly remained in the area, confirming that it is the perfect ‘home’ and feeding ground for grazing green turtles. We hope Andy will show Noël the best algae spots, of course!”
Noël has been fitted with a small acoustic tag, so her long-term movements can be followed through the Acoustic Tagging Array Platform, while regular satellite updates are received from Andy.
Once again, these rescues and releases were made possible thanks to an incredible collaborative effort by the public, the KZN Stranding Network, the NSRI, and the sea turtle network along the South African coast.
“We know that these two vegetarians will thrive in the lush sea gardens of the South Coast,” said Kunz.
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