By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – A juvenile hawksbill sea turtle that was in the care of authorities for about a month after it accidentally swallowed a large fishing hook was released back to the sea in E.B. Magalona, Negros Occidental last Tuesday.
Jojo Vargas of the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO), said the sea turtle was named “EcoT,” a play on the words “eco-trail,” as the staff of Tomongtong Mangrove Eco-Trail in Barangay Tomongtong attended to the sea turtle every day by feeding it with puree made of fresh fish.
Last June 7, a fisherman from Barangay Manta-angan caught the young sea turtle that was struggling because of a fishing hook in its mouth.
Vargas recalled that the hook was embedded in its throat and the turtle could not even open its mouth because of too much pain when it was rescued.
MENRO personnel initially brought the sea turtle to the Municipal Veterinary Office (MVO), but the veterinarian was not available at that time.
The MVO staff then advised them to contact Dr. Froilan Juntilla, a private veterinarian based in Victorias City.
“Dr. Froi not only performed an operation on the sea turtle, but he checked on its condition every week,” Vargas said.
Finally, after almost a month and with clearance from Juntilla, the MENRO team released the sea turtle back to the sea.
