The Sea Turtle Rescue Center and the Nature and Parks Authority have released the turtle, which was injured about a year ago as a result of an underwater explosion. • The turtles in the Mediterranean are in danger of extinction

• Turtle Kfir

  Photo: 

  Olga Rybak, Nature and Parks Authority

Return to the sea: Kfir, a green sea turtle that was found in March 2019 injured, weak and thin, was released today (Saturday) with great excitement to the sea at Wingate Beach, after a year of treatments at the National Sea Turtle Rescue Center. Along with him, two brown sea turtles were released into the sea. It should be noted that both species of sea turtles are endangered in the Mediterranean, and the population of green turtles in the Mediterranean is the smallest.

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Kfir arrived at the center weak and thin, with an injury to his right eye, and received initial treatment at the rescue center and was hospitalized in intensive care. After a more comprehensive examination that included a CT scan by veterinarian Dr. Tzachi Eisenberg at the Kol Chai clinic, it was revealed that he suffers from fluid in the lungs and ears, in addition to damage to the right cornea of ​​the eye. It turned out. 

In light of a similar wave of vulnerabilities in early 2019, a scientific team was established to try and understand the causes of this vulnerability in an effort to reduce the damage to sea turtles in particular and the marine environment in general. During Kfir's rehabilitation, he was added to the green sea turtle's breeding nucleus ponds. He was recently transferred to the treatment yard and from there as mentioned was returned back to the open sea.

There are seven species of sea turtles in the world and they are all endangered. Of these, only three species live in the Mediterranean Sea: the Green Sea Turtle, the Brown Sea Turtle and the Gladiolus Sea Turtle, with the Mediterranean Sea Turtle population being the smallest. In order to rehabilitate the green sea turtle population of the Mediterranean, the National Sea Turtle Rescue Center operates a breeding nucleus for this species.