Lulu Rescue Turtle

adult female Olive Ridley turtle (RB.LO.141), admitted 23 November 2018, One & Only, N.Malé Atoll, Maldives

Weight / Length: 15.8kg / 35.9cm (on admittance);

Lulu was found by the O&O Dive team, floating at the water surface close to One & Only Reethi Rah (N.Malé Atoll). After assessing her behaviour and realising she was unable to dive, she was brought to shore.

Since arriving at our Centre on 23 November, she has been very active and is eating some pieces of fish. Lulu is trying to dive but suffers from buoyancy syndrome. We have started a course of antibiotics to treat a possible infection.

Sandie juvenile Olive Ridley turtle RB.LO.140 (13)
Sandie juvenile Olive Ridley turtle RB.LO.140 (15)
Sandie juvenile Olive Ridley turtle RB.LO.140 (13)

December 2018 Updates

On 2 December, we transferred Lulu to the Olive Ridley Project team at Coco, for specialist veterinarian care, as the cracks on her carapace were getting worse (and she may need surgery).

Update from the ORP

Lulu had large cracks in her shell and sea water had entered her lung and shell. She was dry docked on antibiotics for 2 weeks before we repaired the shell.

With the arrival of our ultrasound machine we were then able to do more diagnostics. We discovered a huge amount of infection and fluid inside her lung and shell. We then performed surgery, draining 1.7 litre of pus from her lung. Her right lung was past the point of recovering and she had a huge amount of infection and dead tissue inside. We did our best to try and flush out the infection, however, it was too late by the time she came to us. We tried hard to save her, placing a feeding tube into her stomach and putting her on I.V. fluids, but sadly she passed away 25 days after arriving.

Our Current Turtle Residents