A sea turtle nicknamed “Bank” has died after complications from surgery to remove nearly 1,000 coins she swallowed during captivity, vets in Thailand have said.
The cause of death was blood poisoning from the loose change, doctors at the veterinary faculty at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University confirmed.
“She at least had the chance to swim freely and eat happily before she passed,” said Dr Nantarika Chansue, who removed 5kg (11lbs) of coins from the turtle’s stomach in a lengthy operation on 6 March.
“At 10:10am she went with peace,” Chansue, the vet in charge of Chulalongkorn hospital’s aquatic research centre, told reporters, adding: “She is my friend, teacher and patient.”
Thai media began publicising the turtle’s tale last month and the public donated about 15,000 baht (£350) towards her surgery.
Five surgeons from Chulalongkorn University’s veterinary faculty removed the coins over four hours while the turtle was anesthetised. The mass of coins was too big to take out through a 10cm incision, so they had to be removed a few coins at a time. Many of them had corroded or partially dissolved.
Chansue said when she discovered the cause of the turtle’s agony she was furious. “I felt angry that humans, whether or not they meant to do it or if they did it without thinking, had caused harm to this turtle,” the vet said at the time.
At first, Bank appeared to be recovering well after the operation, but a checkup on Saturday revealed problems with its intestines. Doctors performed a second operation but Bank never woke up and died on Tuesday morning.
Bank lived for two decades in a public pond in Chonburi province, about 110 miles (175km) south-east of Bangkok. The turtle swallowed 915 coins that tourists threw into the pond. Eventually, the money formed a weight that cracked Bank’s shell.
Vets hope that media coverage of the stricken creature will make Thais think twice about throwing coins into ponds where animals live.