Mayonnaise Is Being Used To Treat Sea Turtles Harmed By An Oil Spill In Israel
Employees at Israel's National Sea Turtle Rescue Center are using mayonnaise to treat the endangered reptiles.
Mayonnaise might just be another condiment for us but for reptiles, it has become a miracle cure. In Israel, the white thick sauce is being used to treat endangered green sea turtles.
According to an Associated Press report, these sea turtles were affected by a devastating oil spill.
Employees at Israel's National Sea Turtle Rescue Center are using mayonnaise to treat the endangered reptiles.
Israel's Nature and Parks Authority has called the spill one of the country's worst ecological disasters on record. It coated Israel's coast and several creatures with thick black tar.
Also read: Reduced Human Activity Leads To Record Number Of Sea Turtles Hatching On Mexico Beach
AP
After the unfortunate spill, thousands of volunteers and cleaners were deployed to remove the tar from the beaches and the water. However, the clean-up is expected to take many more months.
Reports have also revealed that the spill coated most of Israel's 195 km of the Mediterranean coastline with sticky tar. Due to that, extensive damage has been caused to wildlife, particularly sea turtles. But now, the use of mayonnaise has become a miracle cure for the creatures.
Guy Ivgy, a medical assistant at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Michmoret, said that 11 sea turtles are currently being treated with mayonnaise. ¡°They came to us full of tar. All their trachea from inside and outside was full of tar,¡± he said.
Times of Israel
The treatment involves workers removing toxic substances from the turtles' airways. With mayonnaise, they found a creative way to flush the tar out of their digestive tracks.
"We continue to feed them substances like mayonnaise, which practically clean the system and break down the tar," Igvy added.
Also read: Mauritius Declares Environmental Emergency After Massive Oil Spill
Haaretz
The treatment is expected to take one to two weeks. Once the reptiles are cured, they will be released back into the wild.
