Eva 

large female Olive Ridley turtle (RB.LO.143), admitted 24 November 2018, Rihiveli, S.Malé Atoll, Maldives

Weight / Length: 33.2kg / 64.5cm (on admittance);

On 24 November (5:00pm) at Rihiveli (S.Malé Atoll), guests out kayaking reported spotting 2 turtles and an Eagle ray stuck in a drifting ghost fishing net, 300m from shore. Sadly, the smaller turtle died, but the larger one was rescued by the boat crew and brought back to the resort. The turtle was very weak, with a recently amputated flipper (due to entanglement in the net); so the wound was cut, cleaned and disinfected with Biseptine. She was then transferred to a container of shallow sea water, and covered with a wet towel.

Rihiveli contacted Ale, our turtle expert at Kuda Huraa, and the turtle was transferred on speed launches to our Marine Savers centre (via Malé Airport). Thanks to Charles (Bluedream Dive Center) and everyone at team Rihiveli for all the help and updates.

On admission, we noted various abrasions and some leeches on Eva’s body. We treated her flipper amputation, gave a fresh water bath and moved her to a recovery tub to allow her wound to heal.

Updates

We think that Eva may have been floating for several weeks before she was rescued. From her size and maturity, we estimate her to be approximately 30-40 years old.

Since starting on antibiotics, Eva has gained some energy and her health is visibly improving. However, she is a fussy eater and is only accepting crabs and a little fish.

21 December

Eva sadly died today. She had a crack on the plastron (shell underside) which extended internally, and we think she died from infection.