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Tossing a coin into a pool is believed to be good luck. But it proved to be terrible luck for a green sea turtle who consumed nearly 1,000 coins thrown into her pool.

The female green sea turtle is now recovering from an hours-long surgery on Monday. Veterinarians removed some 11 pounds of metal that she couldn't digest, according to The Associated Press.


"It is hard to imagine how it swallowed such a large number of coins. I've never seen such a case before," as Pasakorn Brikshavana, of Chulalongkorn University's veterinary science department 

The animal reportedly consumed coins for years that tourists would throw into her pool in the town of Sri Racha. Eventually, the animal had difficulty swimming because of the weight of the money, as Reuters reported.


And the large metal mass eventually caused the underside of her shell to crack, 

. The coins are visible on CT scans of the turtle, pictured here.


It appears that the turtle is known by different names. The AP and BBC say she is called Bank, while the Bangkok Post and Reuters say she is named Om Sin, which is Thai for "piggy bank."

After the operation, the veterinarians showed reporters the large pile of coins extracted from the animal.

The AP describes the complicated surgery:

Environmental News

Tossing a coin into a pool is believed to be good luck. But it proved to be terrible luck for an endangered sea turtle who consumed nearly 1,000 coins thrown into her pool.

Turtle that ate nearly 1,000 coins recovering from surgery in Thailand

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