NORTHERN ECHO (Darlington, UK) 01 August 07 Turtle-y ridiculous
Sealife centre staff watched in horror as a turtle carried a child's toy monkey to the bed of her tank - and swallowed it whole.
The incident sparked an anxious three week vigil that has finally ended happily, with the monkey emerging, still intact, from the seaturtle's rear end.
Displays supervisor at Scarborough Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary, Lyndsey Crawford, said: "The cuddly toy was dropped by a little girl and in the ensuing panic her parents whisked her off site, probably just feeling very embarrassed about the whole thing," said .
"A couple of staff members realised what had happened and quickly tried to take the monkey from Antiopi while she was at the surface, but she dodged them and then dived straight to the bottom where she swallowed it.
"We consulted vets as soon as we could but as we suspected there was nothing for it but to wait and hope that she would eventually pass it out the other end."
The wait was a distressing one for all parties.
"Antiopi was in a lot of discomfort, which we did our best to ease with medication," said Lyndsey.
"She was put on antibiotics to combat the effect of any dyes or other chemicals that might be leeched out of the toy, and of course she wasn't interested in food."
Lyndsey and her team kept a 24-hour watch on her in rotation, ready to summon help if it seemed emergency surgery was her only hope.
"Thankfully, after three long weeks, the monkey reappeared, and a loud cheer went up right round the Centre," said Lyndsey.
"It had changed colour from red to yellow, but almost as soon as she was rid of it Antiopi was back to her normal self again."
Now feeding again on her more customary diet of three or four whiting per week, Antiopi is also protected by a net stretched across the ocean tank to catch anything else that might be dropped inadvertently from above.
"Eating the toy was yet more evidence of the lasting brain damage Antiopi suffered when she was bashed on the head by either a propeller or a fisherman's gaff hook in the Mediterranean years ago," said Lyndsey.
Antiopi's old injury was the reason she was originally relocated to the Sea Life Centre from a sea turtle rescue centre in Athens several years ago.
"A normal healthy turtle would have realised the monkey was not food and spit it out again," said Lyndsey.
In spite of her head wound Antiopi has made remarkable progress at the Centre, having gradually relearned the forgotten skill of diving for example, and having almost doubled in size to her present 100 kilos.
"She's around 35 years old and could live to twice that or more," said Lyndsey.
"Now she's survived this ordeal we're going to do our best to ensure she doesn' t get in a similar pickle again."
Turtle-y ridiculous