Endangered turtle's health concerns carers

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The olive ridley turtle, which washed up on an Auckland beach, at Kelly Tarlton's.

Kelly Tarlton's curator Andrew Christie, left, and aquarist Matt Harvey holding the turtle rescued by DOC.

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The endangered olive ridley turtle discovered on a south Auckland beach yesterday is struggling to survive.

The turtle is being held in quarantine at Kelly Tarlton's, where curator Andrew Christie has concerns for his condition saying he's "not looking great".

The turtle has been taken to the vet and an x-ray confirmed initial speculation there was an obstruction in its oesophagus.

"We need to wait until it's strong enough until we figure out what to do with the obstruction," said Christie.

"We have no idea what it is, it's got us a bit foxed at the moment."

He said it was unlikely the obstruction was a piece of plastic ingested while feeding.

Christie said they will warm the turtle's temperature and give it plenty of fluids until they can determine whether it will survive.

"Once that has been done we will be able to put him in a tank and see if it feeds. Then we'll put him under anaesthetic and insert an endoscope to determine what the obstruction is," said Christie.

The discovery of the endangered turtle, which was found floating on the Awhitu Peninsula near Waiuku by a resident out horse riding, is reminiscent of the emperor penguin Happy Feet.

But there are no plans to name this marine animal yet because his condition is so precarious.

"We haven't named him yet. We don't want to name him too early in case he leaves us too early," said Christie.

- © Fairfax NZ News