Sea turtles affected in Israeli oil spill given surprise cure: mayo

Israel's Nature and Parks Authority has called an oil spill on 120 miles of the country's Mediterranean coast line one of the country's worst ecological disasters on record. Sticky tar has caused an enormous amount of damage to the environment, including wildlife and specifically sea turtles, and it's mayonnaise to the rescue as the unlikely hero. Mayonnaise has saved many a picnic, and maybe in other's opinions ruined many such food gatherings, but for the sea turtles mayo is all good news.

Guy Ivgy, a medical assistant at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center is helping treat the affected turtles.

via AP:

"They came to us full of tar. All their trachea from inside and outside was full of tar," he said.

Workers have been removing the toxic substance from the reptiles' airways and found a creative way to flush it out of their digestive tracks.

"We continue to feed them substances like mayonnaise, which practically clean the system and break down the tar," Ivgy said. The recovery process is expected to take a week or two, after which the turtles are expected to be released back into the wild.

There was no mention of whether Miracle Whip–a blasphemous alternative in most mayo circles–was ever used, or if the turtles elected to have their mayo in deviled egg or turkey sub form.