Olive Ridley rehabilitated, released at sea after 2 months

CHENNAI: When Yuvathi entered the sea, she was a bit confused. It had been more than two months since the Olive Ridley turtle had left the Bay of Bengal. As soon as she was released, she swam aimlessly for a while and disappeared only to pop up near the boat that carried her to sea. The game of hide-and-seek went on for about 10 minutes until she bid adieu to the crowd who came all the way to release her.

Yuvathi was found stranded on Besant Nagar beach on January 24 with one of her front flippers cut off. With the help of Tree Foundation , an organisation that works for sea turtle conservation and community development , she was taken to Madras Veterinary College.

“She must have lost her flipper due to an injury caused by the propeller of a fishing boat or a fisherman might have cut off the flipper after the turtle was caught in his net . Fortunately there was no internal injury . We took care of her for more than two months , and now she can survive in the sea without the flipper ,” said Supraja Dharini of Tree Foundation.

With a carapace length of 58 cm , Yuvathi weighed 23 kg when she was rescued . “Based on the size of her carapace and head , we determined that she was a young turtle and named her Yuvathi ,” said Dharini.

Sea turtles face a number of threats from humans. In the early 1970s, more than 100 nests were recorded per km of shoreline , but now it has reduced to 10 or 11 nests per km . At least 400 dead turtles washed ashore this year along the coast of Tamil Nadu.

“When a turtle gets entangled in a net , the fisherman chops off the flipper to disentangle his net . The government should do more to protect these creatures ,” said Dharini.