Thailand helps sea turtle swim again with prosthetic flipper

The turtle lost her left flipper years ago in Thailand.

PHUKET (Reuters) - Goody the olive ridley sea turtle can swim properly again, thanks to a specially-designed prosthetic flipper.

The turtle lost her left flipper years ago in Thailand after she was entangled in a fishing net, leaving her largely immobile and stressed-out in captivity.

But now Goody can swim again with ease, after receiving Thailand’s first prosthetic flipper for turtles last week, said veterinarians who are looking after the endangered turtle.

"She’s swimming much better and she’s learning to use the two flippers to turn. You can see the difference," said Nantrika Chansue, a veterinarian who took part in the development of the prosthetic flippers.

Over the past year, Thai environment authorities and researchers at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok have been working to develop prostheses for injured sea turtles.

Sea turtles are often victims of human activities, getting injured or killed most commonly due to ingesting too much plastic or getting caught in fishing gear or struck by boat propellers.

Before being fitted with her new flipper, Goody was able to swim with difficulty by using one right limb, while living in a confined space with other injured turtles.

There are 10 other turtles like Goody in the programme, whose hopes of ever swimming properly again depend on the success of the project. Each prosthesis must be designed and tested to fit each individual turtle based on the state of its injury, its swimming habits, and its weight among other factors.

"We are trying to develop one of the best ones ever created in the world," Nantrika said.

While the prostheses won’t help injured turtles become fit enough to return to the sea, they are aimed at improving their quality of life as they continue to live in captivity, Nantrika said.

And nothing makes the researchers more proud than seeing the turtles swim with poise once again.

"It’s just like when we have our babies, then they start walking and you can feel this kind of like, you’re proud, like a proud parent," said Nantrika.