Ailing turtle mends well at Tarlton's
Diver came across sea creature ‘behaving abnormally’ at Whanga¯ rei Heads
Asick turtle has been nursed back to health at Kelly Tarlton’s aquarium in Auckland after a diver found it ailing underwater at Whanga¯rei Heads.
“Toby”, a grey spotted turtle, had not surfaced for a long time when the diver found it “behaving abnormally”.
Kelly Tarlton’s marketing manager Hannah Stantiall said the diver brought the sick creature to Auckland and the aquarium medicated it for about six weeks to restore it to health.
It was released from quarantine on August 15 into the turtle bay near the cafe at the aquarium, where the public can now see him.
“Toby reacted really well to medication and made a remarkable recovery. He is now the most agile of all the turtles we have,” she said.
“We still need to rehabilitate him after he came out of quarantine to get him used to swimming with other turtles and fish.
“We will release him in November back to the sea where he came from.”
Toby features in a video of a baby shark challenge loaded on to the aquarium’s Facebook page on Friday.
The aquarium has rehabilitated more than 50 sick or injured turtles since starting a turtle rehabilitation programme in 1995.
Rescued turtles most commonly suffer from dehydration, cold, shock and starvation. Other issues include missing limbs or large wounds, bacterial
Toby reacted really well to medication and made a remarkable recovery. He is now the most agile of all the turtles we have. Hannah Stantiall
infections and swallowing fish hooks or plastics.
Two green sea turtles, Oscar and Kiwa, were released at the Poor Knights Islands in March after being found suffering from dehydration at Ninety Mile Beach almost two years before.
Clarke Gayford, the partner of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and host of the Fish of the Day TV series, helped to release the turtles and tweeted: “Perfect day indeed to release these rehabbed turtles.”