Injured turtles out of the soup and into hospital

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Thomas the Tank Turtle still carries the criss-cross of scars across his soft throat.

The young green turtle was almost given up for dead after a dog attack on a Far North beach at Ahipara.

But now Thomas is fighting fit and ready to swim to the warm South Seas, after being nursed back to life at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World.

And it will be a long life. Thomas has at least 50 more years to live.

He is one of three endangered green turtles convalescing in the warm-water tanks in a back room of the underground aquarium in Auckland.

These three are the lucky ones. Tommy, the rare Olive Ridley turtle found thousands of nautical miles from home in the Tory Channel last week, is now in a freezer next door.

After a desperate rescue mission, he died on Monday morning.

The ailing adult turtle, who probably drifted more than 6000 nautical miles southwest from the Galapagos Islands, was found disoriented and suffering from hypothermia in Queen Charlotte Sound last Thursday.

He was flown to Auckland, where Kelly Tarlton staff attempted to lift his temperature, slowly pouring hot water over his shell. Andrew Christie, the aquarium curator, said it was now apparent that little could have been done to save Tommy.

"The water down south had been way too cold for him - it's very rare to see one of these turtles anywhere near New Zealand. And it looks like he had a severe bacterial infection. He had probably been sick for a long time and just floated down here with the currents.

"But we were still pretty upset about it. It's hard when you come in at the end of the line like we do."

Yet the survival rate at the Kelly Tarlton "hospital" is quite high. All three green turtles now in their care were seriously ill when they were brought in.

Kakariki (Maori for green) was found floating in the Bay of Islands with a badly gashed flipper.

"This one was given no chance of survival," Mr Christie said.

"The operation took about three hours - do you know how hard it is to anaesthetise a turtle?"

Neo, in the tank next door, came in dehydrated and covered in thick algae and barnacles which had bored deep into its shell.

"We sometimes have to peel about three kilograms of barnacles off their backs," Mr Christie said.

Green turtles (chelonia mydas) are endangered the world over, killed by sharks, pollution and fishermen.

Their calipee - the soft cartilage from the bones on the bottom of their shell - is prized for turtle soup. Turtle oil is used in cosmetics, and their skin is in demand for shoes.

All three green turtles at Kelly Tarlton's are immature - probably between five and 10 years old. It is impossible to tell what sex they are until they are fully grown.

By then they will be about a metre long and weigh up to 150kg.

When the sick turtles arrive at Kelly Tarlton's, they are usually emaciated and dehydrated. They are tube-fed until they are strong enough to crush specially imported North American herring with their serrated beaks.

The herring is an oily fish which helps them pack the weight back on - they usually double in size while they are in rehabilitation.

Thomas the Tank Turtle is tagged and ready to go, waiting only for the sea temperature to warm up before he is released, somewhere off the Kermadec Islands.

He has had quite an adventure in New Zealand.

"He was washed up at Ahipara in a storm, but he was found while police were raiding a house. They heard a commotion out the back, and found a dog attacking the green turtle's neck," Mr Christie said.

"We stitched him all up, but he will have the scars for a long time. He was ready to go last summer, but then he got an infection in his shell."