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| Pioneering eye operation helps snapping turtle Volunteers needed for Wildlife Festival, April 1-2-3 at Billings Bridge Urgently needed: Volunteers/generator/donations for Turtle Care Centre The Petrie Island Project - Nov, 16, 2003 |
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For more news from the Turtle Care Centre, visit their Web site...
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| Pioneering eye operation helps snapping turtle | |
| (By Sharon Lem, QMI Agency) (Toronto - Dec 18, 2009) "Darth Vader" has snapped back following a pioneering operation.The elderly snapping turtle, aged somewhere between 50 and 75, is recovering at the Toronto Wildlife Centre following cataract surgery to its right eye. On Aug. 15, members of the sailing Club Mimico near Parklawn Road and Lakeshore Boulevard called the centre to report that the turtle had not moved from its spot beside a parking lot gate in three days. The rescue staff found it had lesions on its feet, there was dead tissue at the tip of its tail, its left eye was missing and its right eye had a cataract, said Nathalie Karvonen, the centre's executive director. "Snapping turtles spend much of their time in water and they don't eat on land and need to rehydrate in the water, but he was lethargic and didn't move," she said. Once treated for its lesions, the turtle was ready for cataract surgery. This type of cataract surgery is not known to have been tried before in a wild freshwater turtle. CAN LIVE 100 YEARS Snapping turtles are one of Ontario's seven at-risk turtle species. They're known to live up to 100 years. Veterinary ophthalmologist Dr. Joseph Wolfer at the Animal Eye Clinic donated his time and operating costs to remove the cataract in an eight-hour operation Wednesday at his clinic. "I've done cataract surgery on dogs, cats, birds and deer, but this was my first turtle and this was the biggest and oldest snapping turtle I've ever seen," Wolfer said. "It was more difficult in that you can't lie him on his back or his side, so you have to turn his head sideways. But once he was anesthetized, I was able to get the cataract out fairly easily," he said, adding that the surgery was a success. "We kind of nicknamed him Darth Vader because of this low hissing noise he makes," Wolfer said. Karvonen said the turtle will be kept at the centre until the spring, when he will be released into the wild. Back to top |
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| Volunteers needed for Wildlife Festival, April 1-2-3. | |
| Turtle S.H.E.L.L. Tortue needs volunteers for their booth at the Wildlife
Festival taking place at the Billings Bridge Plaza on April 1-2-3. Donations are also needed for the turtle
care cenre. This is a charitable organization. Please call: (613) 446-9927 or e-mail: motherturtle [at]
turtleshelltortue.org. Here is a blurb on the event: Friday-Sunday, April 1-3, Mall Hours: Billings Bridge Plaza, Bank Street at Riverside Drive, Ottawa: Wildlife Awareness Event: Exhibits by approx. 30 wildlife organizations (wild animals, mascots, lots of giveaways, etc.). Information: (613) 831-2253 Back to top |
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| The urgent call is out: Volunteers needed to save and care for turtles | |
| Rockland's Michele André-St. Cyr, affectionately know as the "turtle lady", tells us that her
organization saves/preserves turtles. Turtle S.H.E.L.L. Tortue has an operational "Turtle Care Centre"
at (613) 446-9927 or through: http://www.turtleshelltortue.org. She is putting out an urgent call for a power generator and financial donations to cover the costs of the treatment and care of turtles at the centre. Volunteers are also needed. If you can help, please call: (613) 446-9927 or visit their Web site and click on "Volunteers". Back to top |
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| The Petrie Island Project - Sunday, November 16, 2003 | |
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Rockland's "Turtle Lady", Michele Andre-St. Cyr, working in a borrowed wet suite, clears the more than one-inch thick ice from the surface of the pond. (Photo - Patrick Meikle) |
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For more news from the Turtle Care Centre, visit their Web site... |
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