Frida Frissaro, Associated Press, Published on Thursday, June 2, 2022, 11:30 AM EDT
MIAMI (AP) – A tortoise whose left fin was destroyed in a shark attack is being rehabilitated at the new sea turtle hospital at the Miami Zoo, where veterinarians were able to save more than 100 of its eggs after it was rescued.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Committee sent the turtle to hospital on May 22 after it was discovered at Ron Magil’s Port St. Lucy power plant, the zoo’s director of communications said.
An ultrasound found that the 50-year-old turtle, weighing 388 pounds (176 kilograms), was pregnant. She also has scars on her shell that show she was previously hit by a boat and attacked by another shark earlier in life, officials said.
Hospital staff stabilize the tortoise, called Baymax, in a recovery tank and give it fluids, vitamins and food that includes squid and crab. Then, on Remembrance Day, she was moved to a pen full of sand and given calcium and oxytocin to stimulate childbirth. By Tuesday morning, she had laid more than 100 eggs. They then prepared to treat her injury from a shark bite.
During a seven-hour operation, a team led by veterinarian Marisa Bezgian, an associate of Zoo Miami and assisted by chief veterinarian Gwen Myers, the exposed bone was removed and the surrounding wound was cleaned and treated. More eggs appeared and, like the others, were taken to a sandbox in the Miami-Dade Parks sea turtle conservation program to be incubated in an artificial nest, Magil said.
Baymax has secured an early start to the hospital, which recently passed an inspection and was allowed to accept sick and injured turtles, but will not officially open until next month, Magil said.
Although it is not uncommon for sea turtles to lose their limbs from sharks or be hit by a boat, many adapt and lead productive lives. This is the hope for Baymax. Authorities said she would be closely monitored for several weeks until she was healthy enough to return to the wild.
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