How Weird … Turtle Swims to Turtle Hospital for Treatment
I’m sure this is accidental.
But how strange is it that on Sunday, a sick loggerhead sea turtle seemingly found its own way to the doctor, almost landing on the doorstep of the Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys?
Ryan Butts examines the loggerhead turtle that swam to the hospital on its own.
Sunday morning, staff members of the Turtle Hospital, which is based in Marathon, saw the 80-pound turtle swimming near a dock, just 20 feet away from the turtle rehabilitation pools. At first they didn’t think too much about it, but the turtle hung around and wouldn’t leave.
Later in the day, Turtle Hospital administrator Ryan Butts decided to take a closer look and determined the reptile was not well. So he and other staff members rescued it to examine and treat it.
“He has a bacterial infection in his bloodstream,” Ryan told me earlier today. “He’s very very thin, very weak and very emaciated,” he said. “He just needs TLC.”
Ryan said that blood drawn from the teenage turtle has been sent to a laboratory for further diagnosis and, in the meantime, the reptile is being administered antibiotics and fluids.
“We’ve went out and rescued several thousand turtles over the past 25 years, but this is the first time a turtle has ever tracked us down and showed up at our doorstep waiting to be admitted to the Turtle Hospital,” Ryan said.
One thing about the Keys’ Turtle Hospital, the only licensed veterinary facility in the world that solely treats sea turtles, is that no turtle ever gets turned away. Even if it doesn’t have health insurance <G>.
