Suffering coin-eating turtle in Thailand heading for surgery
Veterinarian saves a choking turtle from pain caused by ingestion of coins
Veterinarians plan to operate on a suffering sea turtle that has spent years swallowing coins thrown into its pond by people seeking good luck.
Nantarika Chansue, a lecturer at Thailand's Chulalongkorn University’s faculty of veterinary science, said her team was already rehabilitating the turtle to ready it for surgery to remove the huge stack of coins that have accumulated in its stomach. They expected to operate in about two weeks.
The ailing turtle was brought to them by staff of the Air and Coastal Defence Command from Si Racha district, Chon Buri, where it lived in a disused pond.
The reptile’s abdominal shell was cracked and infected, and it was suffering from a lung inflammation that prevented it diving. It could barely swim or eat.
The faculty did a CT scan of the turtle and discovered a huge lump of coins, 20x23x20 centimetres in size, in its stomach. This was pressing down on the ventral shell, which had cracked in the abdominal area and become infected.
Apparently it had eaten the coins visitors threw into its pond in the belief it would bring them good luck. The scan also showed a fish hook in the animal’s intestine.