Accessibility links

Breaking News

Hoard of Coins Extracted From Sea Turtle


Screen show Thai veterinarians operate Omsin, a 25 year old female green sea turtle, during a surgical operation to remove coins from her stomach, during a news conference at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, March 6, 2017.
Screen show Thai veterinarians operate Omsin, a 25 year old female green sea turtle, during a surgical operation to remove coins from her stomach, during a news conference at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, March 6, 2017.

Thai veterinarians on Monday removed 915 coins from a 25-year-old sea turtle which had been swallowing items thrown into her pool for good luck, eventually limiting her ability to swim.

The coins and other objects removed from the turtle named Omsin — piggy bank in Thai — weighed 5 kg (11 lb). The turtle itself weighed 59 kg (130 lb).

The green sea turtle, living at a conservation center in Sriracha, Chonburi, east of the Thai capital of Bangkok, had been finding it hard to swim normally because of the weight.

The vets said they believed the seven-hour-long operation was the world's first such surgery.

"We think it will take about a month to ensure she will fully recover," said Nantarika Chansue, of Chulalongkorn University's veterinary science faculty, adding that the turtle would need six more months of physical therapy.

There was no immediate estimate of the value of the coins, some of them foreign and many corroded.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG