The turtle lay on the steel table like a patient giant, her olive shell rising and falling with slow, tired breaths. Under the bright lights of the operating theatre, veterinarians leaned in to examine the barbed fishing hook lodged in the corner of her mouth. 

The room was quiet except for clipped instructions and the soft hum of equipment. For the Olive Ridley rescued off Chennai’s coast, this table was the threshold between a painful end and a return to the open sea.

A veterinary team from the Arignar Anna Zoological Park, the Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary (BMAD), and the Tamil Nadu Forest Department came together to carry out the delicate surgical procedure to remove the barbed fishing hook lodged in the turtle’s........

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