A rehabilitated sea turtle was released from a Florida beach into the Atlantic Ocean.
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 come down here on the beach and see these very valuable animals being returned to the population,” Loggerhead Marinelife Center chief science officer Dr. Heather Barron said.
Willow was brought to the center on June 25 after Inwater Research Group found the injured sea turtle 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.”
