Olive Ridley Sea Turtle to head north on Friday

Olive Ridley Sea Turtle to head north on Friday

The endangered Olive Ridley Sea Turtle in care at Wellington Zoo’s The Nest Te Kōhanga is heading north to her new temporary home – Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium in Auckland.

The young female, dubbed ‘Ridley’, is the first sea turtle to receive care at Wellington Zoo.

She was discovered at Lyall Bay beach on Saturday 11 July by a local member of the community. As Olive Ridley Sea Turtles are usually found in warm, tropical waters, she was a long way from home and in a critical condition: suffering from hypothermia, dehydration and an injured shell.

Her initial prognosis was critical – but, thanks to the rapid response from the SPCA and first-class care from the Veterinary Team at Wellington Zoo, Ridley has made impressive progress.

“It’s very exciting to be at this stage of Ridley’s recovery. For her to have shown this much improvement is a good sign and bodes well for her eventual release back to the wild,” said Veterinarian Dr Baukje Lenting.

“She’s now fit and strong enough to move on to the next stage of her rehabilitation, which is wonderful news.”

Wellington Zoo staff will farewell Ridley on Friday 7 July, where she will board an early morning Air New Zealand flight to Auckland.

“We have planned every detail of the transfer to ensure that Ridley will be as comfortable as possible throughout the short duration of the flight,” said Dr Lenting. “She’ll then move into a large, warm salt-water pool when she arrives at Kelly Tarlton’s.”

The team at Kelly Tarlton’s are anticipating the arrival of Ridley, and will be working towards eventually releasing her back into the wild.

“We are excited to welcome Ridley from Wellington Zoo. Their team in The Nest Te Kōhanga have done a fantastic job nursing this turtle back to health,” said Kelly Tarlton’s Curator Andrew Christie. “Without their efforts, undoubtedly this endangered turtle would not still be alive today.”

“Our efforts will now focus on continuing the tremendous rehabilitation work that Wellington Zoo has done so we can ultimately release Ridley back into the wild. By all account she has progressed well; however, from our experience she is only half way through the journey to full health. After she arrives Ridley will spend time in our turtle rehabilitation area where we will work on her ability to dive and to establish neutral buoyancy, which means she will be able to feed and rest on the bottom as healthy turtles do in the wild.”

“Once Ridley passes this milestone and gains a respectable amount of weight, we will introduce her into our main oceanarium where she will spend time with other rehab turtles to help her build up muscle strength and fitness. She will be monitored on a very frequent basis to ensure she is recovering at the rate we would expect for this species, and only when we are confident she is ready, she will be released back into the ocean.”

As sea turtles often struggle to recover from being in such a critical condition, Ridley’s survival so far has been a great success.

“Ridley’s story is a great example of the collaborative nature of conservation agencies,” said Dr Lenting. “Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who had a hand in this precious animal’s recovery –from the members of the community who found her and called the SPCA, who then rescued her and brought her to The Nest Te Kōhanga for treatment, and now Kelly Tarlton’s who will work on her fitness. By working together, we can save animals in the wild.”

The Nest Te Kōhanga is Wellington Zoo’s animal hospital, which provides care for Zoo animals, native wildlife from all over New Zealand, and the occasional visitor from far-off shores.

ENDS

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