Head trauma represents the most frequent type of injury at the ARCHELON Sea Turtle Rescue Centre. These wounds are caused by collisions with boats or, more often, from deliberate hits on the head by humans. Jessica Van Damme who volunteered at the ARCHELON Sea Turtle Rescue Centre for 6 weeks in 2023, shares more notes about what she learned while taking care of sea turtles with human caused injuries.

“I was shocked to hear that these wounds are inflicted by humans, and I was even more shocked to see how severe the injuries sometimes looked. Some of these head injuries results in brain exposure”, writes Jessica. Below are some more of her notes:

• The rehabilitation of sea turtles who have suffered from head trauma is often long, as they lose the ability to control their buoyancy, most likely due to neurological damage caused by the trauma.

• This means that instead of seeing them resting and swimming at the bottom of the rehabilitation tanks, they are always at the water surface because they are unable to dive. As their injuries heal, they regain the ability to control their buoyancy.

• Most sea turtles that suffer from head trauma also initially present with anorexia. Getting them to regain their appetite can take months.

• With the sea turtles that do not eat, we try to tempt them twice a day for at least 10 minutes. We hold a piece of fish with a forceps by their tank and hope that they will take a bite from the piece of fish.

• For 5 weeks, Plum, Cherry and Ravioli were three of the sea turtles which had barely -if at all- eaten. In the last week of my stay, all 3 of them suddenly gained their appetite. Ravioli had arrived in the summer of 2022 and she had not properly eaten for almost a year!

• Head trauma can also lead to loss of vision in turtles, which may be permanent. Even so, if a sea turtle can feed underwater independently, she can still survive in the wild. However, the rehabilitation length varies between turtles and ranges from several weeks to several months to years depending on the extent of the injuries.

• A hugely rewarding feeling emanates when a turtle finally eats food, after you’ve spent so much time encouraging them to do so. Patience is everything with sea turtles.

• Many of the injured sea turtles are able to make a full recovery and this shows how resilient they are as a species. It is also thanks to the fantastic work done by Eirini, the Rescue and Rehabilitation Officer and Mike, the Rehabilitation Assistant.

Thank you Jessica for taking the time to share your notes with everyone!

See the turtles that are currently being treated at the Rescue Centre and adopt one of them

Become a volunteer at the ARCHELON Rescue Centre