Apr 24, 2021 – 12:53 pm
Read the original coverage from El Diario here: https://www.eldiario.ec/actualidad/ecuador/rescatan-a-una-tortuga-que-estaba-atrapada-en-una-poma-plastica/
The crew of a tourist yacht in Galapagos saved a turtle from certain death. The animal was trapped in a plastic fuel container (30-liter bottle), which was floating in the sea.
The Manabi veterinarian Ariel Delgado, who was on the boat as a tourist, participated in the rescue and shared the video with us.
He is from the Santa Ana canton and is 25 years old. He says he had never seen anything like it.
The rescue was carried out in the boat “Undertake”, when it was going from Santa Cruz Island to Isabela Island, in the Galápagos Islands province.
After detecting it, the captain of the boat asked if there was a veterinarian among the crew to be able to check and rescue the animal, which was of the “Galapagos Green Tortoise” species.
Delgado quickly made himself available and participated in the review and assessment, before releasing the animal.
“It was especially confirmed that she had not had any injury to her fins and then released her.”
The gasoline can in which the turtle was trapped was very narrow. “It is still difficult to determine how it could enter, which makes me think that it is probably a kind of trap, since there were already mollusks or barnacles around the container, so it makes us believe that the poor turtle had already been trapped for a long time”, Ariel Delgado said.
The rescue in images:
Informing and sharing news on marine life, flora, fauna and conservation in the Galápagos Islands since 2017
© SOS Galápagos, 2021
