Kemp’s Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii)
Stranding Location: ACE Basin, SC
Arrival Date: 6/10/24
Age: Juvenile
Sex: Unknown
Weight: 2.4 kg (5.28 lbs)
Case History
This juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtle was found by South Carolina Department of Natural Resources biologists during an inshore trammel net survey in the ACE Basin watershed. Omelet has several abrasions, puncture wounds and lacerations on the neck, shoulders, flippers, carapace and plastron. These wounds appear to be predatory injuries that were relatively fresh, but not actively bleeding. Aside from the skin and soft tissue damage, there is exposed bone on the plastron over the scapula.
Treatment
Upon admit, we ran a series of diagnostic tests, including bloodwork and radiographs. This patient’s lungs looked clear and the gastrointestinal tract was filled with a normal amount of crab shells and snails. However, the blood work was slightly more concerning, revealing low blood sugar, low red blood cell count and high lactate values. Fluids with dextrose and vitamins were administered and an antibiotic treatment was started. Pain medication was given to Omelet and her/his wounds were cleaned well and treated with topical ointments. Omelet was alert and responsive and moved to a shallow tank to swim and rest overnight.
Updates
June 15, 2024: By the next morning, Omelet was swimming well with good range of motion in all four flippers. However, we decided the deep wounds around the highly mobile flippers needed stabilization to heal properly. Fortunately, Omelet’s bloodwork had improved significantly overnight and s/he was stable enough to be sedated to suture these deeper lacerations. After recovering, Omelet was moved back to her/his shallow tank to continue to heal and is already showing signs of improvement.
July 15, 2024: Omelet’s wounds are healing great and are developing healthy, new tissue underneath. So much so, that the sutures under this patient’s front flipper were actually being pushed out due to the new tissue growth! This is good and bad news as the body is on track in healing itself and doing a great job of it, but the area is having a difficult time connecting the skin together due to the frequent use of the shoulder joint in her/his swimming movement. To better stabilize the area and provide more “skin” to connect and suture, we used a fish patch! Fish patches are healthy fish skin that can be placed over a large, superficial wound for seamless skin grafting. They also have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties to keep the wound clean and expedite healing. We’ll be keeping an eye on this new fish skin patch, but Omelet is still swimming and using that flipper like a champ!
August 15, 2024: We have been monitoring and performing wound care on Omelet’s numerous lacerations and lesions. During a recent exam earlier this month, our veterinarian was able to remove the remaining sutures around the fish patch. The fish patch has done a great job promoting healing and has become incorporated into the new granulation tissue of the wound. The healing wound progression helps Omelet get one step closer to returning to the ocean one day down the road. Anticipating that future outcome, we have been tagged Omelet with a small PIT tag (or microchip) in the unaffected left front flipper. Send some healing vibes for Omelet to continue to progress towards that goal soon!
September 15, 2024: Omelet really SCRAMBLED through rehabilitation! This patient gained a substantial amount of weight quickly and the wounds healed incredibly well after utilizing the fish skin patch. As a result, Omelet was successfully released on September 11 and is back out in the big blue! Happy swimming, Omelet!