MARATHON, Fla. (AP) — Just in time for mating season for sea turtles in the Florida Keys, a rehabilitated male loggerhead sea turtle was released off Pigeon Key Friday.
“Sheldon”, baptized with that name by his rescuers from the United States Coast Guard, was found this month near the Old Seven Mile Bridge, a bridge in disuse. The reptile, which weighs 105 kilograms (230 pounds), was treated at the Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys following being found entangled in a crab trap.
“It’s mating season in the Florida Keys, it’s important to return this huge male turtle to the sea so he can start mating and help preserve the species,” said Turtle Hospital CEO Bette Zirkelbach.
From his size and the circumference of his head, Zirkelbach estimates that Sheldon is at least 50 years old, that is, he is in the prime of his sexual life.
Treatment at the turtle rescue center included wound care, antibiotic administration, and a mixed shellfish diet. Loggerhead sea turtles have been protected by the federal government since they were placed on the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1978.
Before releasing him, scientists at the Mote Marine Laboratory, located on Summerland Key, attached a satellite transmitter to him. The fact that Sheldon has been fitted with such a device reflects the importance of monitoring how these turtles behave once they are released into the wild, since males do not return to the beaches from which they departed as hatchlings, said a Mote official.
The public can follow Sheldon’s movements online.
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