The green sea turtle named Bank is getting recovered after a major life-saving surgery. She has swallowed a huge amount of coins and carrying a heavy mass inside her stomach. Now, she has become fit enough to flap her flippers with vigor.
On Friday, after four days of her surgery veterinarians of Bangkok first set the turtle free in water to observe how well she could move. According to Deccan Chronicle, surgeons kept the turtle in a large plastic tank. She began swimming very quickly as best as she could in the very restricted space.
A lead surgeon from Chulalongkorn University's Veterinary Faculty, Dr. Nantarika Chansue said in a statement,“It's fantastic! She is responding very well. Now she is very happy and looks like normal turtle”. Thanks to Thai Navy, they first found the 25 years old turtle in this condition and rescued from a pool in the seaside town of Sri Racha.
The Nation reported that surgeons used the 3D scanner to diagnose her problem and the result was shocking, She was carrying a huge amount of coins inside her tummy. Doctors explained that she had become the victim of superstition, peoples in Thailand throw coins toward turtles for good luck but that coin brought bad luck for her.
Those coins were stuck inside the digestive tract of the turtle. The ventral shell of the turtle started cracking and the infection was spreading when Thai Navy found her. It took four hours of operation to remove all of the money from her stomach.
Surgeons found total 915 coins of different currencies and the total weight of those coins were about 11 Pounds(~5 Kilograms). the turtle is still under medical treatment because doctors found a high amount of nickel contamination in her blood. Dr.Chansue also added that the wounds are quickly recovering and there are no secondary infections as they kept them in sterile saltwater.