Sabi

juvenile Green turtle (RB.CM.032), admitted 26 January 2022, Maadhoo, S.Malé Atoll, Maldives

Weight / Length: 100g / 7.0cm (on admittance); 324g / 11.4cm (August).

Sabi was found by staff at Ozen Life Maadhoo (South Malé Atoll, Maldives) and sent to our turtle rescue centre at Landaa Giraavaru.
She was found floating on the ocean surface, with air trapped under her carapace, and unable to dive.

​Updates February 2022

We are very pleased with Sabi’s progress so far. She has a good appetite and is growing well. Sabi has boundless energy and enjoys doing laps of her pool and even somersaults at meal times! Sabi’s buoyancy issue is improving; she is able to dive to the bottom of her tank to pick up prawns (her favourite food), but still floats back to the surface when she stops swimming.

March

Sabi is progressing nicely. She is still buoyant on one side but this is slowly improving. She can dive to the bottom of her tank to feed but bounces up again when she stops swimming downwards. Sabi has an excellent appetite and particularly enjoys prawns.

April

Sabi has had an exciting month! With the arrival of the new sun shade, she has joined the larger turtles in the main rehabilitation pools. She is enjoying the extra space and her diving has visibly improved. She is still floating but once she can rest under the water she will be able to be released.

May

Sabi continues to do well. Her swimming is improving in the bigger pool and she is becoming less buoyant every week. Although she is still some way off from being released, she continues to make good progress.

June

Sabi has been eating well and is growing quickly. Her buoyancy is showing noticeable improvement – she is now able to swim under the surface of the water with relative ease, but she slowly rises to the surface when stopping to rest.

July

Sabi has made improvements this month, her swimming continues to improve and she can now remain under the water when swimming slowly. She is still slightly buoyant, but can now rest on the bottom when in fresh water. Once she can do this in sea water she will be ready for release.

24 August

Sadly, Sabi passed away unexpectedly today – on the morning of 24 August, she was found unresponsive in her pool. Despite performing a post-mortem examination, there was no obvious cause of death. It is particularly sad, as her swimming had been improving and she had otherwise appeared to be active and in good health.