Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project
July Update 2009

The 23rd season of the Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project began officially on June 1st. Moonlit patrols for nesting activity continue every hour of every night until mid-November to ensure all nesting turtles are documented. So far we are right on schedule with turtle numbers, having seen 42 individual turtles and 93 nests. The season started slowly and inconsistently; nights with no activity would follow nights with 4 to 5 nests. However unpredictable, there has still been a steady increase of turtles and we are now entering the peak nesting period [which means it's a good time to stop by the beach!]. Surprisingly, we have also already had 5 nests hatch, one as early as June 5th – surprising because a 2 month incubation period means a hawksbill nested as early as April!


Patrolling for turtles still manages to surprise us even when it's our second year with the project. In addition to the extremely early nest hatch, this week a turtle left us stunned. Strong and determined, she dragged herself up on the beach with the back end of her shell crushed and her rear flippers limp. A wide, jagged crack in her shell revealed broken bone and tissue, and yet she still hauled herself onto the beach determined to nest. After reading her familiar tags and checking the book we discovered that she had nested on June 29th. The injury – most likely a close encounter with a boat – occurred less than 3 weeks earlier. We transported her to the turtle house to examine and clean the wound. Plans to put her shell back together were abandoned as we saw the severity of the wound and that pieces of shell and the bone plate were missing. After applying epoxy to a reparable part of her shell, we decided it was best to return her to water. Before returning, we saw movement in both flippers and contractions as if she were going to lay – both good signs for recovery. A veterinarian specializing in sea turtles has high hopes for her and suggested transporting her to a rehabilitation center if she returns.

[extract from Egret Eye View published August 18th]

Got a crush

A radio goes off; Turtle 18 … she seems injured. Turtle 18 … there is a problem.
The crawl is missing the characteristic 'walk' pattern. She is injured . There seems to be a deep jagged cut on the left side of her shell. Her back flippers don't move. It is a bleak sight. A couple of minutes later she turns and hastily makes her way back to the water.
[the next night]
Quiet night. 11:30 pm. A crawl catches our attention. It is up at 30 over a mix of rocks and sand.
It seems unusual. Is it her? Is she back?
2 am. A similar crawl in the same place. She is on the beach. She needs help. We need to assess the damage and see what can be done. A storm breaks out. We need to get her back to the house. We get a towel and help her on to it. Wrapped tight around her fore flippers, she cannot move any more. No risk for her to injure herself. We lift her into a big wheel barrow. She is heavy, a good 60 kg. We part drag, part float the barrow back to the path. It is only 40 meters away but it seems like 400. Lightening flashes across the sky. Back on the path, only a few meters to the cart. Loaded up, we drive her home. It is 4 am. The rain has stopped. She will have to wait a few more hours before day break and for the vet to arrive.
We get her into an enclosure. We clean the sand off her. In the day light the full extent of the damage is revealed.

Crush at turtle house awaiting the vet - ©Dom/Kate.

There is a wide jagged break approximately 30 cm long from the 3rd vertebral scute to the supracaudal. Pieces of shell and bone are missing, most of the posterior end is crushed. Vertebral 5 and part of the supracaudal seems to be missing. The costals scutes 4 are broken but present. The marginal scutes are barely hanging on. She is strong and determined, able to crawl efficiently by dragging herself with her front flippers. The injury is recent. She first nested on June 29th.
The vet comes. There is nothing that she can do. The best we can do is clean the wound.
At this stage, the shell shouldn't be rebuilt; too much of a risk of infection.
She has contractions, both her hind flippers move. There is no paralysis. She needs to lay but the injury is preventing her from it. The best we can do is release her. We don't have suitable facilities to keep her. It is hot.
We take her back to the beach. She swims out, staying in the shallows for a few minutes as if to say 'so long and thanks for all the turtles'. She takes a breath of air. She has gone.
Who knows, maybe she will be back in a few years.

Going where she knows best - ©Dom/Kate.

We get word back from sea turtle specialist. How about sending her to rehab?