Wildlife Vet successfully removes fish hook stuck in turtle’s throat
| Date :12-Jul-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
RAIPUR
Good Samaritans of the Nova Nature Welfare Society pulled out a miraculous rescue of a Flapshell turtle, which was on the brink of dying after ingesting a fishhook pierced deep into his mouth. Nova Nature Society Durg In-charge M Suraj told The Hitavada that the rescue operation began when someone called up Avinash Mourya of Nova Nature Welfare Society from Bhilai-3, Durg (Chhattisgarh) about a turtle caught from nearby pond. It was an Indian Flapshell turtle (Lissemys punctata) protected under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
The turtle weighed 1.7kg in body weight and had a nylon thread hanging out of its mouth. After obtaining permission from Dhamsheel Ganveer (IFS, Durg), Nova Nature Team contacted Dr Jasmeet Singh, Scientist working in Wildlife Health & Forensic Centre, Chhattisgarh Kamdhenu Vishwavidyalaya, Durg, about the turtle and he immediately responded to attend the case on emergency basis.
Despite heavy showers happening from morning till late evening, the volunteers of Nova nature Society Avinash, Vijay and Praveen took the turtle to Dr Jasmeet Singh in late evening. His expert opinion suggested for radiographic examination of turtle to know the exact site and depth of penetrating injury caused by fish hook. Unluckily, radiograph revealed fish hook stuck in upside down manner and if pulled outside with force will tear off whole inner head region of turtle. Another big concern was administering anaesthesia to such critically injured patient under stress.
Despite of all odd situations, turtle was anaesthetized using xylazine-ketamine anaesthesia administered into subcarpaceal sinus. With very limited manpower and facilities, his team of Vets initiated the surgery and after struggling for one hour, the hook was removed out successfully. Dr Jasmeet told that it’s common to have fish hook stuck inside turtle’s throat and it’s not too difficult to remove stuck hook out of throat of turtle but this case was a unique one to us also as it was stuck upside down which complicated the clinical situation. The patient started showing mild signs of head rising after 2 hours of surgery and remained in sedated stage till 12 hours post-surgery.
The turtle was handed over to volunteers of Nova Nature Welfare Society and after complete recovery; the turtle will be released back into its natural habitat. According to the local fishermen, many a times some locals use hooks for fishing in village ponds and small rivers. The hooks carry bait to lure in the fishes near pond beds, which sometimes accidently are ingested by the turtles. It is a known fact that these turtle species are common and mostly used by humans for its meat consumption. Increasing anthropogenic pressure, usage of pesticides in nearby farms leads to decline in their population. Many times, people release their pet turtles (red eared slider turtle) in nearby ponds. This leads to infesting of pond with invasive species that also is another major reason for their declining.