Be the first to comment!2 young injured turtles rescued with ingested fishing lines
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Nature Trust (Malta) – Wildlife Rescue Section was yesterday called to rescue two injured young turtles – one in Birzebbugia and one in Qawra.
NTM thanked all those taking steps to help these turtles, but appealed to the public not to take any action when finding injured turtles.
"Too often, the Wildlife Rescue Team is coming across cases in injured marine turtles, where lines which are coming out of the mouth or the rear end are pulled or cut. This is causing problems to the vets as well as to the health of the turtles," said NTM.
"In the case of one of the turtles rescued this Friday, the people who found it pulled out a fishing line thinking they were helping out the turtle. This only led to the intestines and other organs being torn." NTM added, "this caused the turtle great pain, and the animal is now in danger of dying due to these internal injuries and bleeding."
"Only last month another turtle was found entangled in nylon lines, and the people simply tried to help by cutting all lines and letting the turtle free. The turtle was only recovered two days later, and had broken flipper bones. It is now under treatment and rehab and is in a bad condition."
NTM said that "similar cases are when lines coming out of the mouth are being cut, making it even more difficult to remove the hook without the need of incision, thus making the recovery period longer."
To this regard, the environmental organisation appealed to all those finding injured turtles "to call the Wildlife Rescue and simply keep the turtle calm and await the arrival. All turtles are taken to Veterinary surgeons by the Rescue Team members who all hold an ERA permit."
"In this way the vets can assess the injuries and lines, and take all necessary action in order to make the recovery quicker and the least painful," added NTM.
NTM thanked all those who report injured turtles and other local wildlife, saying that this is also helping save a lot of protected and endangered species which would otherwise have died.
