MICHMORET, Israel (AP) – When it comes to rescuing sea turtles, Israeli rescuers have discovered that mayonnaise is a miracle.
Employees of Israel’s National Sea Turtle Rescue Center are treating endangered green turtles affected by a devastating oil spill that has covered the Israeli coast with thick black tar.
The spill, which the Israeli Authority for Nature and Parks called one of the country’s worst environmental disasters, covered most of 195 miles (120 kilometers) of Israel’s Mediterranean coast with sticky tar. It has caused considerable damage to wildlife, including sea turtles.
Guy Ivgy, a nurse at the Marine 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. Their entire trachea inside and out was full of tar, ”he said.
Workers removed the toxic substance from the respiratory tract of reptiles and found a creative way to remove it from their digestive tracts.
“We continue to feed them substances like mayonnaise, which practically cleans the system and breaks down the tar,” said Ivgy. The recovery process is expected to take a week or two, after which the turtles are expected to be released back into the wild.
Thousands of volunteers and cleaning crews have mobilized to remove tar from Israeli beaches, a task expected to last Monday.
Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection says it is investigating the cause of the oil spill.
The incident is believed to have taken place in early February, and Israel said it had not received any warnings before about 1,000 tonnes of tar began to wash ashore. The tar was washed as far north as Lebanon.
On Monday, an Israeli court banned the publication of all the details of the investigation, including the name of the suspected vessel believed to have spilled oil, the route and the ports of call. An association of Israeli journalists asked the court on Tuesday to lift the order.