CVM Turtle Rescue Team to the Rescue

Van Gogh lay on his side, propped up between two slabs of foam and covered by a plastic sheet with a hole in it large enough for Kahlina Frey to stitch up his right eye. He had been under anesthesia for about an hour and a Doppler machine beat out a steady pulse that sounded like a metal sheet being warped, a strange yet reassuring sound that let everyone know his heart was still beating.

Van Gogh is an Eastern painted turtle and Case No. 158 for the year for the Turtle Rescue Team, an organization of about 30 students at the N.C. State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Van Gogh had gone blind from an eye infection that had not responded to medical treatment. He had stopped eating due to pain from the infection so the team decided to operate.

Continue to the read feature in the Independent.