Durban — KZN South Coast lifeguards who helped a leather back turtle in distress at sea have been hailed for going above and beyond their call of duty.
In two video clips shared on a community news alert and crime group on Facebook, the lifeguards on a lifeboat are seen approaching the turtle tangled on a buoy line.
They switch off the boat’s motor when they are in arms-reach of the animal and begin cutting the line entangling it.
Reacting to the incident, Ray Nkonyeni ward councillor Tessa Perryman said: "I'm very proud of the lifeguards. Not only are they saving people's lives, but they are saving our marine life, too".
uShaka Sea World’s Lead Quarantine Aquarist, Malini Pather, positively identified the animal as an adult leatherback turtle while looking at the video.
“The lifeguards did the right thing because the buoy would have hindered that animal’s ability to dive, and thus having difficulty to avoid boats and predators,” she said.
Pather explained that they had one other similar incident reported to them this year- where the rope and bet attached to the buoy cut into a turtle’s flipper and neck.
“In that case, the animal was also rescued by lifeguards and then brought to uShaka Sea World for rehabilitation. We then released it with a satellite tag. Entanglement is a problem sea turtles face where fishing lines, nets, and plastics all pose a threat”.
She said had these lifeguards not come to the rescue of the turtle, over time, the net could have cut in deeper and caused adverse damage.
“We have had cases resulting in amputation from entanglement (fishing line and plastic). Leather backs are incredible animals, and are actually one of the two turtle species that nest in northern KwaZulu-Natal,” said Pather who runs the animal hospital and rehabilitation program for sea turtles at uShaka.
She said, currently, they had 12 sub-adult turtles in their turtle hospital.
“Turtles strand for a variety of reasons, each case is different, and thus, the management of each case differs. With the ones we have currently, some have buoyancy problems, two have vision impairments. One came in emaciated. Another has a severe boat strike injury to its carapace.
“We manage each case differently. Some need antibiotics, some need fluid support, some need a chance to rest. We are very fortunate to have a fully equipped hospital so that we can run diagnostics to give us a better idea of what’s wrong”.
She said that the most recent animal entangled was Nala.
“We successfully rehabilitated and released her with a satellite tag”.
Daily News