Loggerhead sea turtle returns to Atlantic Ocean in Florida after rehabilitation

(21 Aug 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Juno Beach, Florida - 21 August 2024
1. Various of staff carrying sea turtle
2. Various of sea turtle crawling toward the ocean
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Heather Barron, Loggerhead Marinelife Center:
“This morning we're releasing Willow, who is a subadult loggerhead that came in with a wound to her left front flipper. She was found up in the Jensen Beach area by the In-water Research Group, who noticed she was very thin and lethargic. So not really feeling too perky. And when she came to us here at Loggerhead, we were able to do some tests, some blood tests that showed she was very anemic and, had a higher white cell count, probably because of that wound. So we got her on antibiotics, pain medications, iron and nutritional supplements, and have corrected her anemia. And now she's feeling very feisty.”
4. Sea turtle crawling into the ocean
5. Spectators watching release
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Heather Barron, Loggerhead Marinelife Center:
“Oh, it's so exciting. It's really the best part of my job is to actually come down here on the beach and see these very valuable animals being returned back into the population. It is a threatened population of turtles. And so anything that we can do to contribute to the stability of the population means, you know, I think a lot to recovery of sea turtles as a whole.”
7. Various of sea turtle swimming into the ocean

STORYLINE:
A rehabilitated sea turtle was released back into the Atlantic Ocean from a Florida beach Wednesday morning.

Willow, a subadult loggerhead, was set free in the area behind the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, officials said.

“The best part of my job is to actually come down here on the beach and see these very valuable animals being returned back into the population,” Loggerhead Marinelife Center chief science officer Dr. Heather Barron said.

The injured sea turtle was brought to the center on June 25 after being found by Inwater Research Group in nearby Jensen Beach. Veterinarians diagnosed Willow with debilitated turtle syndrome, a condition that causes sea turtles to be malnourished, fatigued and encrusted in barnacles.

"So we got her on antibiotics, pain medications, iron and nutritional supplements and have corrected her anemia," Barron said. “And now she’s feeling very feisty.”

Loggerhead Marinelife Center was established in 1983 as a sea turtle research, rehabilitation, education and conservation center. The center promotes conservation of ocean ecosystems with a focus on threatened and endangered sea turtles.

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