**Content Warning: This blog contains graphic photos of severely injured sea turtles**
It’s been a devastating month for some of our local sea turtles. In the past couple weeks, our sea turtle rescue team at CCinc has responded to multiple stranded sea turtles, and most of these rescued turtles were directly facing the consequences of human actions.
On June 12th, our team received a call about a loggerhead who was trapped in a cast net in the Indian River Lagoon, and was struggling to surface to breathe. An FWC officer was able to get them to shore, where our team found that, not only were they entangled in a cast net, but they also had monofilament fishing line tightly entangling their front flipper. Falafel was transported to the East Coast Zoological Foundation’s Sea Turtle Healing Center at Brevard Zoo. Their affected flipper had to be amputated due to the lack of circulation from the fishing line. While sea turtles are proven to live fruitful lives with a single front flipper, that is a loss that should never have occurred.
About three weeks later, on July 4th, our team received another call about an entangled sea turtle. This adult loggerhead was found on the beach. We were sent photos and quickly realized she was not only entangled, but tied to another adult loggerhead with fishing line and netting. While one of these sea turtles was alive, the other was not so lucky. Liberty was transported to Brevard Zoo and luckily her flippers were salvageable. Unfortunately, Liberty did succumb to complications from her injuries.
If you find an entangled sea turtle, DO NOT cut the material off without permission and instruction – it may be holding the only thing stopping the turtle from bleeding out or keeping an appendage attached.
Cases like these are PREVENTABLE.
18% of the sea turtles CCinc has rescued this year have been the victims of entanglements from discarded fishing line and tackle. Pick up after yourself, and recycle your line in one of our 49 fishing line recycling tubes in Indian River County. Want to support this program and reduce strandings by entanglement? Email olivia@coastal-connections.org.
Remember, if you find a sick, injured, or dead sea turtle, please call the FWC Wildlife Hotline at 1-888-404-3922.
All sea turtle work is performed under FWC-MTP #259 & #279
FB – @coastalconnectionsinc
IG – @coastalconnections_inc
For more information, visit www.coastal-connections.org, like and follow the socials listed above, or visit our gift shop at 1790 14th Ave., Vero Beach, FL 32963
- Photos by: Joe Rimkus, Jr. and Clarice Knelly- Falafel the loggerhead sea turtle after rescue and at the East Coast Zoological Foundation’s Sea Turtle Healing Center at Brevard Zoo. ↩︎
- Photo by: Responding Party – Liberty, the adult loggerhead sea turtle, entangled to another deceased loggerhead sea turtle.
↩︎ - Photo by: Kathy Lehnhardt – Liberty at the East Coast Zoological Foundation’s Sea Turtle Healing Center at Brevard Zoo. ↩︎
- Photo by: Olivia Redding – Fishing line recycling tube at Roseland Community Park; just one of 49 across Indian River County. ↩︎
