Scapa

female Olive Ridley turtle (RB.LO.151), admitted 19 February 2019, Velassaru, S.Malé Atoll, Maldives

Weight / Length: 21.8kg / 57.6cm (on admittance);

Scapa was found floating in the ocean, close to the resort of Velassaru (South Malé Atoll). She suffers from buoyancy syndrome and is unable to dive below the water surface.
After a full checkup, Scapa is now on antibiotics and is settling in to a recovery pool at our Centre.

Updates May 2019

Scapa has started to dive below the water surface, swimming after her food, but she is still unable to rest at the bottom of the pool due to ‘turtle buoyancy syndrome’.

Updates June 2019

Good news ! 🙂 Scapa has started to overcome her turtle buoyancy problem and has been moved to a larger tank. She is now diving after her food morsels, and swimming around underwater. Once she can swim down to the bottom of the pool and rest there with ease, she will be ready for release!

On 16 June, Scapa was successfully released back into the ocean, to mark World Turtle Day.