Sea turtle endures surgery after shark attack (Gallery)
After enduring a shark attack and loosing a fin, a turtle is being treated in Miami.
MIAMI — A loggerhead turtle whose left fin was destroyed in a shark attack is rehabbing at Zoo Miami’s new Sea Turtle Hospital, where veterinarians were able to save more than 100 of her eggs after she was rescued.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent the turtle to the hospital on May 22 after she was found at the Port St. Lucie power plant, Ron Magill, the zoo’s communications director said.
An ultrasound determined that the 50-year-old, 388-pound turtle was pregnant. She also had scars on the shell that indicated it had been previously hit by a boat and attacked by another shark earlier in life, officials said.
The hospital staff stabilized the turtle, dubbed Baymax, in a recovery tank and gave her fluids, vitamins and food. Then, on Memorial Day, she was moved to a sand-filled pen and given calcium and oxytocin to stimulate her labor. By Tuesday morning she had deposited over 100 eggs. Then they prepared to treat her shark bite injury, for which she underwent a 7-hour surgery.
Officials said she’ll be closely monitored for several weeks until she’s healthy enough to return to the wild.
