MICHMORET, Israel (AP) – When it comes to saving sea turtles, Israeli rescuers have discovered that mayonnaise is a miracle.
Officials at Israel’s National Sea Turtle Rescue Center are treating endangered green sea turtles, affected by a devastating oil spill that covered the Israeli coast with thick black tar.
The spill, which the Israel Nature and Parks Authority called one of the country’s worst ecological disasters on record, covered most of the 195 kilometers of Israel’s Mediterranean coast with sticky tar. It caused great damage to wildlife, including sea turtles.
Guy Ivgy, medical assistant at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Michmoret, north of Tel Aviv, said 11 turtles are being treated. The center is run by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
“They came to us full of tar. The entire windpipe inside and out was full of tar, “he said.
Workers have removed the toxic substance from the reptiles’ airways and found a creative way to eliminate it from their digestive tract.
“We continue to feed them substances like mayonnaise, which practically clean the system and break the tar,” said Ivgy. The recovery process should take a week or two, after which the turtles must be returned to the wild.
Thousands of volunteers and cleaning crews have mobilized to remove tar from Israeli beaches, a task that is expected to take months.
Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection says it is investigating the cause of the oil spill.
The incident is believed to have occurred in early February, and Israel said it had received no advance warning before about 1,000 tonnes of tar started to rise up the coast. The tar was also taken north, to Lebanon.
On Monday, an Israeli court banned the publication of all details of the investigation, including the name of the suspect ship that allegedly spilled the oil, its route and ports of call. An association of Israeli journalists filed a petition with the court on Tuesday for the order to be suspended.