Tardeo resident's compassion gives turtle a second life

A 36-year-old Tardeo resident's perseverance helped a freshwater softshell turtle get a fresh lease of life after the youth, who ran around for two days consulting veterinarians, managed to find an expert to remove a fishing hook stuck in its foodpipe.

Viren Nagre, who works in the commercials section of a TV channel, said that on July 5, when they were scouting for a location for a shoot at Umbergaon on the Mumbai-Gujarat border, they found some children fishing near a waterbody running around with a fishing wire that had a turtle stuck on one end.

"A local who was with us snatched it away from the boys, and that's when we understood that a fishing hook was stuck in its foodpipe. We started contacting local vets; when we failed to get anyone to come and take a look, I decided to bring the little fellow to Mumbai," said Nagre, who on reaching, showed the turtle to a couple of vets. Some referred him to other vets and some said that there was only a 5% chance of the turtle surviving.

"I was not convinced about some of the vets I had met, and my worry for the turtle was increasing as it had been two days since the incident and it could not even be fed as the hook would only go deeper. Hence, on July 7, I decided to visit the Taraporewala aquarium; officials there told me to contact Dr Dinesh Vinherkar who is an expert on turtles," said Nagre.

Vinherkar, who has a clinic in Vakola, told dna that the hook was stuck in the oesophagus region. "We did an X-ray and located the hook. We then conducted an hour-long surgery. An incision was made in the neck and the hook was carefully removed ensuring that there is no damage to the food pipe," he said, adding that he gets several such cases.

If the hook had remained undetected, it could have caused the turtle's death due to starvation, Vinherkar explained, as had it even tried to eat anything, it would have been extremely painful and the hook would have gotten pushed inside causing bleeding.

The vet has praised Nagre for not leaving the turtle behind and taking so much trouble to get it treated, and also appealed to others that if they find such wild animals in distress, they should try and get maximum help for them.

Nagre said, "My mother has named the turtle Babloo; it's undergoing medication and is living at my house as per Dr Vinherkar's instructions. It's gradually getting back to its normal activities and has begun eating too. Once it's completely healthy, we will release it near a fresh waterbody."