Turtle recovers from fishing hook, returned to sea
MELBOURNE, Fla. — Had it been a more damaging type of fishing hook lodged in its head, this 2-foot-long, endangered loggerhead sea turtle might have died.
But on Wednesday, SeaWorld Orlando Animal Rescue Team returned the 63-pound turtle to the ocean at Playalinda Beach at Canaveral National Seashore.
The loggerhead had spent more than three months at SeaWorld Orlando’s rehabilitation facility after a large fishing hook became embedded in its head.
The nonprofit Sea Turtle Preservation Society rescued the loggerhead in August near Jetty Park, SeaWorld officials said in a release.
The turtle was taken to SeaWorld Orlando for medical attention and rehabilitation.
SeaWorld staff took X-rays and were able to remove the embedded "circle" hook without causing any further trauma to surrounding tissue.
The loggerhead was returned to the ocean with another loggerhead that came to SeaWorld Orlando in February after being rescued near St. Augustine and two rehabilitated cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley sea turtles brought to SeaWorld Orlando in November 2014 from Massachusetts.
SeaWorld Orlando has rescued 63 sea turtles this year and returned 88 to the wild.