Mumbai: Vets Remove Fishing Hook Stuck in Olive Ridley Turtle's Throat

DNA had first reported about the turtle, which was rescued after being found stuck in the rocks near Versova beach on Monday evening by volunteers involved with the beach clean-up.In a major relief for a 31 kg endangered Olive Ridley Turtle, a team of veterinarians performed a five-hour-long surgery on Thursday and managed to remove a large fishing hook along with a nylon rope from its oesophagus (a muscular tube that connects the throat to the stomach).DNA had first reported about the turtle, which was rescued after being found stuck in the rocks near Versova beach on Monday evening by volunteers involved with the beach clean-up. The turtle, which had a two-feet single nylon line hanging out from its anus was then shifted to wildlife veterinarian Dr Rina Dev clinic at Bandra for further treatment, where she found that it had a hook stuck in its throat.Dr Dev informed that a decision to carry out a procedure called gastroscopy was taken on Tuesday after they failed to remove the hook by carrying out an endoscopy. "There are very few vets who have a gastroscope with them and when we approached Borivali based Dr Vikarm Dave, he immediately agreed to help and we decided to carry out the surgery on Thursday," she said.A team including Dr Dave, Dr Premal Darji and Dr Dev carried out the five-hour-long and complicated surgery at Dr Dave's multi-speciality clinic at Borivali."We inserted the flexible telescope from the mouth of the Turtle and after some initial difficulty were able to locate the exact place where the hook was lodged. However removing it was not an easy task as it had to be done with extreme caution to ensure that the pointed spur of the hook did not tear the oesophagus," said Dr Dave.According to Dr Dev, while the surgery has been a success the turtle continues to remain in a critical condition. "We do not know for how long it hasn't eaten and since when has the hook been inside it. Right now we are continuing to keep it on fluids and it will be under round the clock medical supervision," she stated.According to fishermen, such hooks are used by traditional fishermen to fish near rocky shore around Mumbai. "Mostly a small fish is stuck as bait on to the hook to attract and catch fishes like catfish and others. It seems that this turtle must have somehow come close to the shore for feeding and while trying to grab the fish stuck on the hook ended up pulling the entire fishing line with the hook and ingesting it," said Ganesh Nakhawa, chairman of Purse Seine Fishing Welfare Association adding that while the incident is unfortunate one could not blame the fishermen for it.