In the past few months we have treated several injured turtles rescued from the river by members of the public.

In December a fully grown Macquarie River Turtle was found floating in the river, able to swim but unable to dive. She had a deep wound on her head and her right eye was swollen closed - injuries consistent with being hit by a boat propeller.

X rays revealed a fractured upper jaw, which although a serious injury will heal by itself without surgery. Much to our surprise and delight we also found that she was pregnant, with 12 eggs visible on the x ray.

Dubbed “Josephine”, the turtle is now recuperating in a temporary home where she has a plastic clam shell for a pond and a sand pit in which to dig and lay her eggs.

She is receiving antibiotic injections every 3 days, and will need to recuperate for several months. She feeds on freshwater plants, vegetables, insects and fish.

After several weeks of treatment, the swelling around the eye has reduced and the turtle is able see out of both eyes, however she is still unable to dive.

In January she laid her eggs in the sand, and we are eagerly waiting to see if the baby turtles hatch. Female turtles lay their eggs in a burrow on the riverbank where the eggs and hatchlings are left to fend for themselves. Macquarie River Turtles take approximately 80 days to hatch.

Macquarie River Turtles are large fresh water turtles, growing up to 35cm long. They inhabit the Murray-Darling Basin and the Murray River irrigation canals, basking on logs in the morning and hiding amongst the roots of willow trees in the water.

In the wild they feed on fresh water plants and algae as well as insects, molluscs, small fish, yabbies and carrion.

In January another Macquarie River Turtle was brought in from Caloote after swallowing a fish hook. Without treatment to remove the hook, the turtle would be unable to eat and would have died from starvation.

The turtle was given a general anaesthetic to remove the hook (with bait still attached!) which was lodged in the soft palate at the back of the mouth.

The turtle made an uneventful recovery from the anaesthetic and was released back into the river 2 days later.

Murray Bridge Vet regularly treats precious wildlife in our community.