Stella, the family animal lover, is particularly into elephants and koalas. I must be inclined to an even slower pace, because my own favorites are turtles and sloths.
So I was eager to visit the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority’s Turtle Hospital.
Most of the turtles in the hospital are pulled in by one of the various eco-tour operators running in the Great Barrier Reef; and the vast majority have one of two problems: either they were caught in the prop of a boat…
cracked shell damaged by a prop
… or they have a “flotation problem.” Turns out that a “flotation problem” does not mean that the turtle can’t float; it means that the turtle floats too much, and has trouble diving, and therefore can’t hunt for food. They bob on the surface of the water until they starve to death.
There are limits to how much the hospital really can do. For the cracked shells, they clean and disinfect, sometimes pin like the one above, try to get the turtle up to a good weight, and wait. For the flotation problems, they attempt to figure out what’s caused the problem, put the turtle on antibiotics to fight infection, try to get the turtle up to a good weight, and wait.
If the turtle is lucky, the cause of the flotation problem is just a respiratory infection or something that’s causing too much gas build-up.
If the turtle has swallowed something — like a fishhook or sinker — his prospects aren’t nearly as good.
Click on this to see the silhouette of a sinker inside the X ray on the right…
Craig the Ranger told us that turtle surgery is rarely tried and most often unsuccessful when it is — there are too few access points between shell and shell. When they do find something like that sinker, about all they can do is to give the poor guy a laxative and hope for the best. A surprising volume of gunk does make its way out…
A small sample of stuff retrieved from turtle guts
… But if it doesn’t, the turtle is unlikely ever to be released back into the wild. Without regular antibiotics to keep infection down, and without supplementary feeding to keep its weight up, the infections will re-occur and it will ultimately starve.
This guy has good prospects of being released back, despite the barnacle on his head
(Green turtles normally go for barnacle-grooming services at “cleaning stations” under the coral, where specialized fish clean them… but those that have flotation problems can’t get such spa services.)
The hospital ultimately is able to release back about 50% of their patients into the Coral Sea. The remainder go into sanctuaries and zoos.
Family Gap Year 