In Israel, mayo provides miracle for endangered turtles after devastating oil spill
- Rescuers are treating animals ‘full of tar’ after an ‘ecological disaster’ sees beaches covered in the sticky substance
- Feeding the turtles mayonnaise helps break down the tar and flush it out of their digestive tracts
When it comes to saving sea turtles, Israeli rescuers have discovered that mayonnaise is a miracle.
Employees at Israel’s National Sea Turtle Rescue Centre are treating endangered green sea turtles affected by a devastating oil spill that has coated Israel’s coast with thick black tar.
The spill, which Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority has called one of the country’s worst ecological disasters on record, has coated most of Israel’s 120 miles (195km) of Mediterranean coastline with sticky tar.
It has caused extensive damage to wildlife, including sea turtles.
Guy Ivgy, a medical assistant at the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre in Michmoret, north of Tel Aviv, said 11 turtles are being treated. The centre is run by Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority.
“They came to us full of tar. All their trachea from inside and outside was full of tar,” he said.