Now an aquarium keepers to the Western Japanese city of Kobe are looking for a high-tech solution that will allow the turtle 25-year-old to swim normally after years of work and 27 prosthetic fin models behind them without reaching their goal.
Yu, weight 103 kg (227 kilos) and 82 cm (32 inches) in length, first came to the attention of keepers at the Suma Aqualife Park in Kobe after she rushed there from a southern port on the island of Shikoku in 2008.
"She was in a really bad way. More than half its fins were gone and she was bleeding, his body covered with shark bites, said Naoki Kamezaki, Director of the Park.
After nursing Caretta-an endangered species-back to health, keepers enlisted the help of researchers and a local prosthetics maker to get her swimming again.
Early versions of prosthetic fins caused pain or fell quickly, and on a shoestring, Kamezaki said that sometimes it felt like packing.
"There were times that I wanted to give up and just her Fix as well as possible and throw her back in," told Reuters. "So if luck on her side that she will be fine, if not, she'll get eaten and that is just life. The way of nature, I suppose. "
The latest version-fixed and rubber together with a material used in wetsuits-was presented the 11 February and proclaimed a success, with Yu swimming smoothly around the tank.
But on Friday, a Pinball slipped out just hit the water, forcing even the keepers back to the laboratory.
Although Kamezaki admits that Yu is unlikely to ever live a normal life, turtle still has hopes.
"My dream for her is that one day she can use her prosthetic fins for swimming on the surface, walking around and dig a hole to lay her eggs in," said Kamezaki.
"When the children hatch, well, just feel that would make all the traumas of its useful life.
(Reporting by Paola Villar, writing by Elaine Lies, editing by Paul Casciato)
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