At least a dozen trees tower over the building. Three dogs nap in the shade outside, while three cats run amok on the ground and first floors. Under makeshift roofs on the ground are kept, big blue tubs, each one home to an Olive Ridley turtle in rehabilitation.
As Supraja Dharini, founder trustee-chairperson, Tree Foundation India, seats herself by Chinni’s tub, the turtle lifts his head to look at her. As soon as Dharini begins speaking, Chinni reacts to the sound of her voice and begins to swim towards her. If not some food, he is guaranteed at least some affectionate petting.
“We named him Chinni because he was very small when he came to us, in 2004. He was found entangled in an empty cement bag with only his head sticking out,” recalls Dharini. The plastic bag had tightened its strands over his front flippers, which the veterinarian could not save. “Sea turtles’ bodies don’t accept external objects, though the vet did try a titanium pin.” Nevertheless, today Chinni has grown to a healthy 18 kilograms. “He must be about 10 years old now,” says Dharini, even as Chinni interrupts her, vying for attention with loud splashes that make everyone laugh.
Vengurla, 02/04/2019: Villager from Mochimad carefully release Olive Ridly hatchlings at Mochemad beach, Sindhudurg district in Konkan region on Tuesday. From past 20 years Mochmad villagers conserve and release endangered Olive Ridley egg hatchlings with help from Konkan forest officials. Today, April 2, cillagers release 99 Olive Ridley hatchlings into sea at Mochemad beach at Sindhudurg distruct. Photo Rajendra Gawankar
Chinni is one of the eight injured Olive Ridley turtles being kept for rehabilitation by the Tree Foundation , which operates with special permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden.
“When we think they have regained enough of their health to be able to swim, we take them to a nearby estuary,” says Dharini. The water there is about four feet deep, and the turtles are released in it for a while, to see how well they can move about by themselves. “If they are able to dive in and resurface at least eight times on their own, they are ready for the sea.”
Among Tree Foundation’s eight, it is Samudara who has been declared sea-ready, despite missing a flipper. She has gotten over the buoyancy problem that an injury had given her back in 2017, and will be released in about a month. “We named her Samudara because it means ‘the rescued one’,” says Dharini. And then there is Sara, whose name means ‘precious one’, who like her peers loves snapping up fish and shrimp dangled before her like a game of catch.
It takes a village
“When someone calls us and tells us that there is a live stranding, our senior sea turtle protection force member TM Uppalarasan takes an ambulance and first aid kit, a small tank and goes to the spot. We have our sea turtle protection force members patrolling the beaches in all villages along 126 kilometres of the Kanchipuram coast.”
There are patrol men assigned in each village, she explains, whom the fishermen on that stretch of beach get in touch with first. They then contact Tree Foundation India. In Chennai, it is Uppalarasan who answers the call.
The rehabilitation centre in Neelankarai is where turtles are brought. “Things are easier now with WhatsApp. The person who finds the turtle sends us a photograph, so I can get a sense of the nature of injury and keep the medicines ready.”
And what kind of injuries do they usually have? “Nearly all of them will be weak and dehydrated, because they wouldn’t have been able to eat or dive when injured. So we start them off on fluids — usually Ringer’s Lactate (RL). Then when it’s time, we take them to Madras Veterinary College for an X-ray and ultrasound, to see if there are any internal injuries.”
The Foundation has three veterinarians of different qualifications — including a surgeon — associated with it. In addition is a team of fishermen who have now dedicated their time to turtle rescue. This transition in their occupation was a slow one, explains Dharini. “In the beginning, they used to be laughed at in their villages. But now, with official ID cards and stipends given by their respective State Governments, it is a point of pride for them, that they are rescuing turtles.”
First things first
No patroller can predict the kind of injuries a stranded turtle might have. But there are some basic things they always keep with them, when doing their rounds. Here are the essential contents of a turtle rescuer’s first-aid kit:
NS saline solution, since stranded turtles are invariably found in a state of dehydration
Betadine
Silverex and Metrogyl ointments
A lot of gauze
Gloves
A data sheet
