Pornjit Rungrerngrom,
president of Navy Wives Association, presses the button to officially
open the Navy’s new Sea Turtle Hospital in Sattahip.
Patcharapol Panrak
The Royal Thai Navy has expanded its Sattahip Sea Turtle
Conservation Center with the nation’s first turtle “hospital.”
Pornjit Rungrerngrom, president of Navy Wives Association, opened the
Air and Coastal Defense Command facility Aug. 23 at a “Restoring the
Thai Sea” event staged to commemorate HM the Queen’s birthday 11 days
earlier.
ACDC commander Rear Adm. Noppadol Suphakorn said that while the Sea
Turtle Conservation Center is responsible for the breeding of adult
turtles and nursing of juveniles, the center often finds many sick or
injured turtles due to both natural and man-influenced causes.
The new Sea Turtle Hospital will be staffed by volunteer veterinarians,
Noppadol said. It will also serve as an educational destination,
research facility and information storehouse on turtle illnesses and
injuries.
The hospital features separate treatment and operating rooms, storage,
pharmacy and offices.
To celebrate the opening, the Navy Wives Association released a female
sea turtle - 18-year-old “Naina” - into the wild. It had been rescued
from Dongtan Beach after suffering an eye injury. Doctors at the new
hospital operated on it, sewing tissue from a human placenta to heal the
reptile.
