Rare, 5-foot turtle found critically injured on shore

[Times photo: John Pendygraft] Coni Romano, a senior marine mammal trainer at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, covers the turtle with a moist towel.

By ED QUIOCO

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 6, 2000

CLEARWATER -- A rare sea turtle found beached with severe injuries was in critical condition Sunday after enduring a two-hour emergency surgery to amputate a flipper.

The endangered leatherback turtle, named Anna by rescuers, was found at Anna Maria Island Saturday evening with a deep cut on its left front flipper. Rescuers took the 5-foot-4 turtle, which weighs more than 800 pounds, to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where a staff veterinarian performed surgery at midnight.

"The wound was terrible, all the way to the bone," said Scott Swaim, aquarium spokesman. "There was so much tissue damage that we will have to wait for scar tissue to cover the wound. We are not sure if she will make it."

Leatherback turtles, which are covered with leathery skin and lack the hard shell of other turtles, are the largest living turtles and among the most endangered, Swaim said. They eat mostly jellyfish and spend summers as far north as Cape Hatteras, N.C., and winters in Florida waters and the Caribbean.

Rescuers are crossing their fingers for Anna's recovery. Leatherback turtles, which can dive as deep as 4,000 feet, typically do not survive in captivity because they are used to deep waters.

"It's one of the most exciting and hopeful events we have had," Swaim said. "We do know her chances of survival are pretty low, but we are cautiously optimistic."

Rescuers think Anna, who also had propeller marks, was tangled in a crab trap line, causing the injuries to her flipper. Swaim said rescuers are seeing an increase in turtles injured by crab trap lines.

Anna is the fourth leatherback injured by crab trap lines in the past year and a half. The aquarium had not come across such injuries before that, Swaim said.

Rescuers are waiting for blood tests to help determine Anna's health. Anna spent Sunday recovering in a 4-foot-deep pool at the aquarium and getting used to swimming with just three flippers.

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