Durban — Jina, the loggerhead sea turtle that survived a shark bite, appears to have adopted Durban as her new home following her release.
The South African Association for Marine Biological Research’s (Saambr) Ann Kunz said that Jina spent 11 months in Saambr’s Sea Turtle Hospital at uShaka Sea World due to the partial amputation of both her front flippers after narrowly escaping becoming a tiger shark’s lunch near Umkomaas.
“She was released at Cape Vidal in December 2022 and it did not take her long to head down to Durban which she seems to have adopted as her new home,” Kunz said.
Kunz said that Jina was their favourite ‘Durban Undersea Club member’ and a shark bite survivor that continues to embrace life in Durban Bay.
She said that Jina has been spotted by surf-ski paddlers, stand-up paddle boarders as well as divers on many occasions and Saambr really enjoys following her daily movements.
“Jina was fitted with a satellite transmitter before release to enable Saambr to assess how well she adapts to life back in the ocean and she is clearly thriving,” Kunz said.
“Since she arrived in Durban, she has covered approximately 1 131km with a daily average swim of about 10.5km. We feel she should definitely be considered as an honorary member of the Wildtrust Oceans 8 team as she covered 6.5 miles on both the 16th and 17th of June,” Kunz said.
“Jina reminds us all to have hope, to be resilient, to be fierce, to not give up, to have grit and to enjoy life in the not-too-fast lane. She is such a champ.”
Kunz also thanked DUC members, free divers and the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) for keeping them posted wherever they spot Jina.
Commenting on Saambr’s Facebook post, Oceans 8 Charity Swim said: “We've got a medal with her name on it.”
Also commenting on the post, Jüstin Kleynhans said he filmed Jina on one of his recent dives.
Along with the video uploaded on March 16, Kleynhans said he went spearfishing that day at North Pier in Durban and “this massive loggerhead turtle appeared from beneath to investigate me and see what strange creature I was”.
“She has a GPS tracker fitted to her shell but sadly is missing a front flipper, which I can only conclude is from a previous encounter with a shark.”
Kleynhans said he Googled Jina’s description after his dive and found out more about her. She survived a previous tiger shark attack and was rescued by a local dive boat and taken to uShaka Marine World for rehabilitation. She was later released at Cape Vidal and has subsequently found her way back to Durban and seems healthy and well.
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