MICHMORET, Israel (AP) – When it comes to rescuing sea turtles, Israeli rescuers have discovered that mayonnaise is a miracle.
Employees at the Israeli National Sea Turtle Rescue Center are treating endangered green sea turtles affected by a devastating oil spill that covered Israel’s coast with thick black tar.
The spill, which the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority calls one of the worst ecological disasters in the country, covered most of Israel’s 195 miles of Mediterranean coastline with sticky tar. It caused extensive damage to wildlife, including sea turtles.
Guy Ivgy, a medical assistant at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Michmoret, north of Tel Aviv, said 11 turtles are being treated. The center is managed by the Israeli Nature and Park Authority.
“They came to us full of tar. “All their trachea inside and out was full of tar,” he said.
Workers removed the toxic substance from the airways of the reptiles and found a creative way to flush it out of their digestive system.
“We continue to give them substances like mayonnaise, which practically cleans the system and breaks down the tar,” Ivgy said. 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 cleanup teams have mobilized to remove tar from Israel’s beaches, a task that is expected to take months.
The Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection says it is investigating the cause of the oil spill.
The incident allegedly took place in early February, and Israel said it had not received any advance warning before an estimated 1,000 tonnes of tar began to wash up on the beach. The tar also washed north to Lebanon.
On Monday, an Israeli court banned the publication of all details of the investigation, including the name of the alleged ship that allegedly spilled the oil, the route and the ports there. An Israeli journalists’ association requested the court on Tuesday to overturn the order.