If I’ve learned anything from Hollywood and movies it’s this; always cheer for the underdog. In the end it’s always the last place team that comes from behind to win the championship game. The nice guy ends up with his dream girl. And the shy quiet science club member transforms into a princess for one night to win prom queen. Typically everyone loves those stories of the underdog defying the odds because at some point we have all felt like the underdog. The funny thing is, why don’t people cheer for the underdog in real life too?

Since starting at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center two months ago, I’ve come into contact with Squall, an adult Loggerhead female, who lost most of her front right flipper during a shark attack earlier in the summer. She defied the odds to survive her initial attack, a testament to the pure strength and determination of these animals. But while sharing her story of survival to the public many people automatically reply with “Well she OBVIOUSLY can’t be returned to the wild, so what’s going to happen to her?” Every time I heard this response it made me wonder why we didn’t cheer for the underdog with our patients. Many people are very surprised to hear that we can and have released turtles with amputations in the past. As long as they can dive for food, surface to breathe, hunt live prey, and swim normally with their remaining limbs, there is no reason why we can’t release them back to their home in the ocean.

Squall met those conditions and was returned to the ocean in a joint release effort with another amputee Loggerhead from Virginia. The other amputee turtle was an adult male Loggerhead by the name of Big Boy 25 who had gotten entangled in debris from an old crabbing pot off the coast of Virginia. He was rehabilitated and treated by the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team, an agency that I also have a personal connection too. They were the organization that first trained me to work with stranded sea turtles and marine mammals when I first interned with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Squall was released on October 17^th from Amelia Island, Florida, while Big Boy 25 was released October 18^th from Croatan Beach in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Both of these turtles carry satellite transponders and are able to be tracked on www.seaturtle.org. There, maps of both turtles show them moving at a steady rate farther south to warmer waters and a new beginning.

This is a true testament to the pure strength and will to survive these animals have. They overcome great odds just to make it to adulthood, with only 1 in 4000 hatchlings making it to that life stage. If Squall and Big Boy 25 have made it this far, there is no predicting just how far they are able to go. Underdog stories are not strictly for the cinemas, they’re also for our survivors.

Squall returning back to the sea. (Photo by Americorps member David Keeler.)

Three Sea Turtles to be Released: Monday, October 17, 3PM, Amelia Island

Squall, an adult female loggerhead sea turtle arrived at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC) onJune 16, 2011.  She was captured by the RV Georgia Bulldog research vessel during routine trawling for sea turtle population estimate and health research purposes.  She was found in waters off Jacksonville, FL.  Her current weight is 169.6 lbs / 77.1 kg.

She had a fresh shark bite to right front flipper, carapace and plastron.  Squall was treated with antibiotics, fluids, and pain management drugs during the first few weeks of the rehabilitation process. Additionally, regular cleaning, flushing and debridement of the wounds were performed throughout her stay at the GSTC.  Squall laid some eggs in her tank during the first part of her rehabilitation.  She did not lay all of her eggs based on xray and ultrasound evaluation, thus oxytocin was used to help her lay the remainder. Squall’s wounds look very good currently, but are not completely healed. Our goal was to give her a jump start in wound healing and we have accomplished that. We feel at this point it is in her best interest to be back in the wild and she should have no trouble finishing the healing process on her own.

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center is conducting a joint project with the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Program on the movement patterns of loggerhead sea turtles with missing flippers through satellite telemetry. Squall will be released with a satellite transmitter.

Two green turtles, a juvenile named Duval and a sub-adult named Marti, will also be released.

Directions to the release:

Second exit on I95 South in FL to Fernandina–this is A1A

Follow east for ten miles to Shave Bridge onto Amelia Island

A1A is now 8th Street

Follow to Atlantic Avenue (St. Peters Church is on NE corner)

Turn right and continue to beach and Main Beach parking lot.