I totally didn't expect that our professor would bring a bunch of TV show people to make their show about this "turtle saving" story....really, I did not expect that.
,but coming from her, I'm not surprised one bit. For this already happened more than once.

So, before we get in, the TV people asked us to take an intro shot with them. They had me holding a sign saying "good deed volunteers" and they take the intro clip. introducing us and what we're about to do. We had some blooper shots because they didn't told us first that we had to respond when the reporter said "Are we ready?"

The first shot was funny, because everyone, including our Prof, was not prepared and the answer was delayed so much it was hilarious. XD

"So! Are we ready to save the turtles?!"
"..........."
"...........?"
"...YEAHHHs!"

lol, we had a good laugh at ourselves.

And then we went in.

The turtles' environment is poor. The water is dirty, the ventilation is poor. and there are way too many turtles living there.

Also, leeches.

There were variations of turtle species in there, including Yellow headed Temple Turtle, Snail-eating turtle, Black marsh turtle, Red-eared slider turtle, Asian box turtle, Soft-shell Turtle.
All are from irresponsible owners who want to get rid of their pets in the easy way. Give them to a temple. They don't even consider that the temple's pond isn't suitable for these turtles at all. (And that's where we came in, we're gonna save them.)

The procedure is divided into many parts, "Cleaning", "Weight and size", "Deworming", "Blood collection", "Treatment" and "End (Healthy local turtles - to be freed, Sick - to the vet Hospital, Alien species - back to the pond)"



The cleaning station : We used hypertonic saline to make the leeches let go of the turtles, then used toothbrushes and remove them. Each turtle had around a dozen(or two) of them leeches.
Then rinse the cleaned turtle with clean water. proceed to the next station.


Weight and size station: Label the turtle with a given ID with a marker. measure weight and size.


Deworming station : This station can only be done by Vets and vet students. We feed the turtles with deworming medicine. For small ones, we use solution, for bigger ones, we use pills.
To feed the solution, we used a small syringe and a saline tube. and a narrow-flat metal (like the ones your doctors use to examine your throat by pressing your tongue.). Artery forceps might be needed for the difficult ones. If the turtle is aggressive, poke him until he bites the flat metal, then make him open his mouth, insert the tube as deep and possible into the esophagus, then feed. If the turtle is not biting. We just gently open its mouth with the flat metal.
I did this procedure countless times, but most of the time, they spat the medicine back. Ha. I fail so hard.
For the pills, Use the flat metal to open its mouth, then use forceps to insert the pill into its esophagus. It's easier than using solution.... once you can restrain them. but it's not really that hard.


Blood collection station : This station can only be done by Vets and vet students. We collect the blood from under their shells, above their heads. It's a lot harder than I thought. I did it twice and all I got was some lymph, so I quit trying. (I don't want to hurt them more than necessary.)


Treatment station : This station can only be done by Vets and vet students. We check for dehydration signs and external lesions and other signs that we can see. It's weird that even though these animals are living in water, they become dehydrated. I don't know how, but so many of them were. So I gave a few of them some subcutaneous fluid therapy. The external lesions that we found on MOST of the turtles were pus. We removed the pus from their belly shells and apply some Betadine. We just gave them every supportive treatment that we can do for them then.


End station : The local turtles that are relatively healthy were to be freed to the wild. The sick turtles that need more treatments were to be sent to our hospital. Only Red-eared slider turtles, that are alien species, the we, regrettably, had to put them right back to the very same pond that we pulled them up from. They are aggressive and we absolutely cannot free them to our already frail ecosystem.

We changed the pond water 50% though. That's the best we could do.


The turtle I had most trouble with was not the aggressive Red-ear guys, but the Asian box turtle. (look up for their pictures when they close their shells). They can seal their shells together so tight that I cannot do anything. Lucky for me, they're in weak condition, so it's easier for me to open the shells. Unfortunately, they can also retract the heads very deep into the body. All I saw was a turtle with no head. (I KNOW IT HAS A HEAD, BUT I CANT ACCESS TO IT! AND HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FEED IT!?) This is the only type of turtle that I surrender to.


I worked on every station. It was fun and tiring. but mostly fun. :)
That's the end. We had lunch at 1.30 PM and went home.


also, my examination gloves did me nothing. It was wet in there and the turtles tore them up for me very early in the working time. So everything could get in. Don't worry, Betadine got in, too. So I should be fine.