TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A leatherback sea turtle rescued from a fishing net in Yilan died late Monday night despite a more than four-hour surgery to remove a net from its gastrointestinal tract.
Fishermen discovered the turtle entangled in fishing nets off Yilan County on Saturday, prompting immediate rescue efforts. It was sent to the Badouzi Marine Animal Rescue Station in Keelung, where the Taiwan Cetacean Society, together with teams from National Taiwan University Veterinary Hospital and Taipei Zoo, performed an endoscopic procedure to extract the net.
The Taiwan Cetacean Society said the turtle was removed from its holding pool at 3:10 p.m., anesthetized at 3:35 p.m., and surgery began at 3:45 p.m., continuing until 8 p.m. The four-hour, 15-minute procedure used Taiwan’s longest 3-meter endoscope to remove as much of the net as possible, ultimately extracting 160 cm ingested by the turtle.
After surgery, the turtle initially recovered from anesthesia with vital signs monitored continuously. However, at 9:30 p.m., its respiration slowed and eyelid reflexes ceased, and resuscitation efforts over 90 minutes failed, leading to its death at 11 p.m.
The leatherback is the largest species of sea turtle. This individual was estimated to be a mature female between 25 and 30 years old, with a curved carapace measuring approximately 148 cm and weighing 280 kilograms.
Leatherback turtles are classified in Taiwan as a Category I endangered species. The Taiwan Cetacean Society said it will conduct a necropsy to determine the cause of death and assess the impact of the ingested fishing net.
