Oil-clogged turtles treated by feeding them mayonnaise

TURTLES that survived a devastating oil spill on Israel’s coastline are being treated with mayonnaise.

Employees at the National Sea Turtle Rescue Centre are treating endangered green sea turtles affected by the disaster that has coated the country’s 120mile Mediterranean coast with thick black tar.

The spill, which the Nature and Parks Authority has called one of Israel’s worst ecological disasters, has caused extensive damage to wildlife, including the sea turtles.

Guy Ivgy, a medical assistant at the rescue centre in Michmoret, north of Tel Aviv, said: “They came to us full of tar. All their trachea from inside and outside was full of tar.”

Workers have been removing the substance from the reptiles’ airways and found a surprising way to flush it out of their digestive tracts.

“We continue to feed them substances like mayonnaise, which practically clean the system and break down the tar,” Mr Ivgy said. The recovery process is expected to take up to two weeks, after which the turtles are due to be released back into the wild.

Yaniv Levy, founder and director of the centre, told Haaretz newspaper that they arrived unable to breathe or see.

“They all got here with a coat of tar on their heads, and in their eyes, nostrils, mouth, digestive system and stomach,” he said. “With this kind of damage they have no chance to survive without treatment.”

He added that of the 27 turtles being treated, six arrived with tar damage. They were first treated with vegetable oil to thin the tar, and then with mayonnaise.

Thousands of volunteers and cleanup crews have mobilised to remove tar from Israel’s beaches, a task that is expected to take months. The Environmental Protection Ministry says it is investigating the cause of the oil spill.

The incident is believed to have taken place in early February, and Israel said it received no warning before an estimated 1,000 tons of tar washed up on shore. The tar has also affected Lebanon, to the north.