US-Fla: Red Tide Affecting Higher Number of Sea Turtles
Sick sea turtle washes up on Key
ENGLEWOOD -- Biologists at Mote Marine Laboratory pulled a sick sea turtle from the Gulf waters off Manasota Key late Thursday night after area residents found it floundering in the surf.
The adult female loggerhead turtle was spotted at around 6 p.m. off the 8300 block on Manasota Key Road.
Six or seven Mote officials and volunteers with the Coastal Wildlife Club carried the turtle up the beach to a waiting vehicle.
Wildlife Club member Zoe Bass guessed the turtle weighed as much as 400 pounds.
"It was a very, very large female," Bass said.
According to Mote, the turtle appeared to have red tide-related symptoms. It was taken to Mote's Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital for treatment.
It will join two Kemp's ridley sea turtles already receiving treatment at Mote.
The rescue comes during a season in which sea turtle deaths have skyrocketed.
More than 110 sea turtles have washed ashore dead since June. The average number of deaths during that time period is 27.
