image of rehabilitated turtle with satellite transmitter attached to shell
Apparently freeing loggerheaded turtles after rehabilitating them comes at a price....and that price is a little too costly for our own interests--a lot of times, that price is the death of the animal that we spent so much time and resources caring for. A team of scientists at the Balearic Islands studied re-adaptation of loggerhead turtles in their environments after they have been treated for injuries at rehabilitation centers. They found out that a lot of these animals have a really difficult time adapting back to their normal life style, and going back to fending for themselves, finding their own prey and other natural things. Many of the turtles brought into the rehabilitation centers are caught by accident. They get trapped in nets or collide with boats, or get into a mesh with plastic and abandoned litter in the sea. The study aimed to determine the re-adaptataion process of injured turtles who have been temporarily taken out of their homes to be rehabilitated, and then returned to the ocean. The authors located and placed satellite transmitters on the shells of twelve healthy loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta). They also studied their countergroup: the group of turtles that were put in a rehabilitation centers. This rehabilitation group included six turtles who had only been in the rehabilitation centers for a few months. The care-takers admitted that the six turtles who had been brought in had a slow difficult recovery process because they were greatly affected by injuries when brought in. Two of the six had been hit by boats, two had throat and stomach injuries from fishing hooks and the last two had injured flippers from being stuck in fishing nets. :(
After being "physically recovered" and being set free, the researchers sought out to track the activities and life patterns (re-adjusment to their environment) via satellite transmitting systems on the shells of the turtles from the rehabilitated group (in comparison to the normal unharmed tagged loggerheads). They gauged the animal's performance and health by determining how often the animal went up to breathe. The satellite transmitters would send over a signal each time the turtles surfaced the water. This would, in turn, transmit information about the direction and speed of their travel. Over time, the researchers found out that three of the six released turtles (50%) showed signs of discomfort with their "should have been" familiar environment. One died, two did not swim well and one was very disoriented. These guys were simply not able to effectively adapt to their home. This finding has now raised a lot of questions as to which injuries are serious enough for the turtles to be taken out and put into a rehabilitation center, but still risk that they might not make it in the real world even after curing one or two major injuries. It's sad but the results of the study indicated that a percentage of animals that are brought into rehabilitation centers simply to not readapt to freedom. There are a lot of resources that go into treating a turtle and some argue that it seems almost pointless to recuperate a turtle that will have no chance of survival back in its natural habitat. So this recent study has now sparked up a lot of controversy in the news and among UB experts to determine/ re-evaluate the guidelines for turtle treatment. There are a lot of cons and benefits to consider in both situations.
Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120420105334.htm
4 comments:
I think that spending money and using resources to get those 3 turtles rehabbed is worth it, considering that it was humans that caused it.
Wow that's very interesting! What a dilemma! It seems inhumane to just abandon an animal in need of help. I wonder if gradual introduction back into their natural habitat would be better. Instead of releasing them directly back into the ocean, maybe a simulated natural environment would be a good second step. Like a contained body of water where they still must hunt for food but can be monitored for further injury care before being released.
Like Vanessa, I wonder if this research could lead to efforts to find better ways to help the turtles prepare for the transition to the natural environment. Or perhaps they could have benefitted from more time in captivity for additional recovery. Nonetheless, it sounds like some of the rehabilitated turtles were doing fine in the wild. I hope that efforts to rehabilitate turtles will continue, and perhaps this information can be used to help improve the rehabilitation techniques.
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