May 12 brought excitement to Anna Maria’s Bayfront Park in the form of a juvenile green sea turtle named Henry.
The green turtle, less common to this area than the nesting loggerheads, was rescued Jan. 23 and taken to Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota for rehabilitation.
When Henry was rescued, he was suffering from exposure to cold water, boat injuries and several tumors that needed to be removed.
Mote’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital has admitted more than 560 sick and injured sea turtles since 1995. After a turtle is fully rehabilitated, it is released back into the water near where it was found.
Henry made his way back out into Tampa Bay via the experienced hands of Mote’s rehabilitation and medical care coordinator, Lynne Byrd, and Jenna Rouse, an animal-care technician with Mote.
Byrd said, “This makes me feel great. We worry about them at first, but we did our job, he’s healed up beautifully and it’s great to be able to put an endangered species back in the wild.”
— ChrisAnn Silver Esformes