By Simon Jones
Published Oct 9, 2014 at 8:00 am (Updated Oct 8, 2014 at 11:41 pm)

Sarah Gosling releases a green turtle back into the waters of North Shore
after she found it tangled in fishing line. The turtle’s front flipper had to be
removed, and it has now made a full recovery. (Photo by Mark Tatem)

A turtle that had to have its flipper amputated after getting tangled up in fishing line has been released back into the wild.

The green turtle was found by Sarah Gosling during a Lionfish Tournament in July struggling to reach the surface for breath.

Ms Gosling managed to untangle the marine animal and took it to the Aquarium for treatment.

After a couple of days assessing the turtle’s injury doctors took the decision to amputate the animal’s front right flipper.

Now after two-and-half-months rehabilitation at the Aquarium the turtle has been released.

And experts believe it has a great chance of survival.

“This turtle will stand an excellent chance of survival in the wild,” Dr Ian Walker, principal curator of the Aquarium, said. “Turtles are able to compensate very well for a missing flipper. Our feeling is it is always best to get these endangered species back into their environment as soon as they are fit to go back.”

The turtle was released back into the wild by Ms Gosling and Dr Walker on North Shore yesterday morning.

Click here to view a video of the turtle release.

Dr Walker praised Ms Gosling for her efforts to save the turtle.

“We would like to thank Sarah for helping to save this animal and would encourage others to do the same if they see animals in distress,” he said. “They can either bring the animals to us or alert us to their presence and we will collect them.”