Workers from the Loggerhead Marinelife Center carry Willow, a subadult loggerhead sea turtle, past a crowd of onlookers to the beach to be released back into the ocean after having been treated at the center, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Juno Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)Willow, a subadult loggerhead sea turtle, makes her way past a crowd of onlookers, back into the ocean after being treated at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Juno Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)A crowd of onlookers watch as Willow, a subadult loggerhead sea turtle, makes her way past the crowd, back into the ocean after being treated at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Juno Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)Willow, a subadult loggerhead sea turtle, makes her way back into the ocean after being treated at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Juno Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Workers from the Loggerhead Marinelife Center carry Willow, a subadult loggerhead sea turtle, past a crowd of onlookers to the beach to be released back into the ocean after having been treated at the center, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Juno Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
JUNO BEACH, Fla. – 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.
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“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.
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.”
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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