Hulk

Species: Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)

Arrival Date: May 15, 2019
Stranding Location: Jupiter, FL

Initial Weight: 200.97 lbs.
Current Weight: 202.3 lbs.

Issue: unintentional Boat Strike

Hulk is an adult male green sea turtle patient that was found at Carlin Park in Jupiter with severe unintentional boat strike injuries to his carapace. The turtle\'s wounds are being treated using VAC (vacuum-assisted closure) therapy that creates a negative pressure to promote healing of the fractures to the carapace. Hulk will remain dry docked to allow the wounds to heal, and will receive antibiotics and fluids as we treat his injuries.

PROGRESS KEY:

This turtle is progressing well and responding to therapy as desired.

There is a minor issue that we are working to resolve.

More details to follow.

PROGRESS NOTES:

We are sorry to have to report that we made the decision to euthanize Hulk, due to a rapidly deteriorating condition. Under the damaged bone on the carapace, we found a large abscess on the surface of the lung that had penetrated the lung causing it to leak air. Because there was no hope of successfully resolving this problem and to prevent further suffering and pain, the decision was made to euthanize the turtle.

As we try to learn from every case we deal with, we did learn a very important lesson from this treatment. The abscess appeared to be due to sand that got into the coelom at stranding. Those of you who were here when Andre was a patient, that turtle had a very similar issue and ended up dying after many months. It now appears that any sand in the coelom is likely to be fatal, albeit slowly fatal, and we will include this consideration when we are triaging cases in the future.

06/13/2019 - Hulk is showing signs of increased infection, so we are monitoring closely.

06/06/2019 - Hulk continues to do well. We are concerned that some of the bone in the boat strike area may be dying. Watching it closely.

05/30/2019 - Hulk is now in the water during the daytime and dry docked at night. We have found a new bandaging material that is working extraordinarily well.

05/23/2019 - Hulk has been moved to dry docking outside. So far, it appears that the fractures are beginning to heal.

05/16/2019 - New patient