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UPDATE: Kilikya, The Green Sea Turtle, Returns to Rehabilitation

July 7, 2016

Learn how this ancient animal is fighting to survive. Last year, thanks to our Save the Sea initiative, we were able to help SEA LIFE Trust, an ocean conservation charity, sponsor, rehabilitate, and rescue a green sea turtle named Kilikya. She was found tangled in a fishing net with an injured flipper and an intestinal infection. With the help of SEA LIFE Istanbul, Kilikya was nursed back to health. Scientists released her into the ocean and tagged her with a tracking device so that they could learn how they could protect Kilikya’s kind. Unfortunately, there are still numerous threats to green sea turtles like Kilikya in the wild: Turtles often get tangled in fishing nets, hit by boats, hunted for their shells, or die from eating plastic. Humans have had a profound impact on these species, which once walked (and swam) the Earth with the dinosaurs. As a result of man-made threats, all seven types of sea turtles are now either threatened or endangered. The World Wildlife Foundation estimates that the population of Eastern Leatherback Turtles has declined by a whopping 90% over the last 30 years. SEA LIFE Trust also reports that 52% (over half!) of the world’s sea turtle population has swallowed (often deadly) plastic. Green sea turtles play a crucial part in growing and maintaining the habitat of other marine species. Considered the “gardeners of our ocean,” sea turtles thrive on seagrass and prune the vegetation so it can spread across the sea floor. Thousands of animals live and reproduce in this seagrass. Without turtles, the grass wouldn’t thrive and many types of fish, shellfish, and crustaceans would lose their homes, and the entire ecosystem would be thrown off balance. Helping conserve our turtle population, in turn, helps preserve other animals. A few months after Kilikya was freed, a boat hit and damaged her shell. Kilikya had to be rescued and returned to captivity. She is currently being rehabilitated at a facility in Mersin, Turkey. Her broken shell is still healing and as a result, she has trouble floating. However, her appetite is good and her condition is stable. In time, we hope that she will be able to return to the wild. If Kilikya recovers and is healthy enough to be set free, she can thrive in the ocean. Like the other members of her species, she can live into her 50s, grow to be 700 pounds, and migrate over 1,200 miles to lay eggs and repopulate her kind. Sea turtles have been roaming the seas for the last 65 million years; if we don’t work together to defend them, we’ll be responsible for this ancient, noble animal going extinct.