Deep strength and hope

“She had a really bad bone infection affecting her right shoulder.

“She was in pain and wasn’t using her flipper,” Noble said.

Medication was administered to try to treat this. However, another setback was identified.

“Inside the infection, a lump of tissue had grown,” Noble said.

This prevented the medication from working properly.

“She’s been on medication for a year, and she developed a skin condition,” Noble said. “She is the definition of long-suffering.”

For example, each time Nobomvu was injected, she had to be restrained.

Yet despite the tough time she had been through, she was showing incredible resilience and Noble was adamant there was reason for hope.

“Over the last month we’ve seen an improvement. There’s fresh bone tissue in her shoulder… [but] there’s still a long road to recovery.”

When she is eventually ready for release back into the ocean, Nobomvu will hopefully be fitted with a satellite tracker, as was the case with three recently released juvenile loggerhead turtles.

Noble described turtles as “such remarkable ancient creatures that we don’t really understand”.

Even though they can breathe air, turtles only really make their way to land to lay their eggs. By tracking them, more knowledge could be discovered about where and how they moved about and how those passages could be better protected.

Noble said her work with turtles left her feeling “a great sense of responsibility and a great sense of hope”.

Reptiles did not make much sound and it was difficult to read them.

“But I tell you what,” Noble said, “each one is different.”

With Nobomvu, Noble had noticed “a strength and maturity in her.

“I felt she was tired over the year. Drained. But she has this really deep strength that’s helped her survive to this point,” Noble said.