Saki, Olive Ridley Sea Turtle, returns home after rehabilitation

CHENNAI

On January 21, S. Sakaravarthy, 52, who was off to the sea with his fellow fishermen, noticed a large net floating and wanted to pull it closer to their boat and take a look at it much to the annoyance of others.

After a great deal of persuasion, they brought the net near only to find an Olive Ridley sea turtle entangled in the net. “The others felt we should just let it be as she may die soon. But I could not. I wanted to give it our best shot and bring her to the shore alive for some treatment,” he said.

On Wednesday, Sakaravarthy bid adieu to Saki, the rescued turtle, after three months of treatment and rehabilitation at the Tree Foundation Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre here.

Supraja Dharini, chairperson of Tree Foundation said, Saki (meaning friend and named after her rescuer Sakaravarthy) was a special turtle because it was challenging to treat her after she was entangled in 1,464 kg ghost net. When they rescued her, her front flipper was mired in the net and caused near fatal injuries to the soft flesh around her neck. It resulted in the amputation of the right front flipper.

R. Jayaprakash, specialist veterinarian, treated her and she was given medical attention for an extended period. During this time, Saki was placed in seawater rehabilitation tanks and fed with fish, squids, shrimps and crabs.

“While we are happy to send her back, we think about the human-induced challenges she has to face. Not just turtles but all marine life face problems due to fisheries interaction, ghost nets and fishing gears. They get caught and cannot come out. We have initiated an incentivisation programme for fishermen with HCL Foundation recently,” she said.