Veterinarian Releases First Sea Turtle Amputee at Honeymoon Island

Dr. Jay Coisman and his family drove from Gainesville to help release his first sea turtle amputee back into the wild Monday morning.

Rebel, a young, endangered Kemp's ridley, was found injured in the Egmont Key shipping channel in May. He had massive boat strike wounds on the left part of his shell and flipper. His flipper was in such bad condition that it had to be removed.

"Certainly the first time I've ever done one," Coisman said. "It happens, but he recovered quite well and we're ready to go."

Coisman, a surgical resident at the University of Florida School of Veterinary Medicine, has removed limbs from dogs and cats, but Rebel was his first sea turtle amputee. The surgery took about an hour and 15 minutes, he said.

"He has an excellent quality of life," Coisman said. "He shouldn't have any real limitations. He swam quite well in a straight line, and he's on his way."

And Rebel was not the only recovered sea turtle released at on Monday.

Ideal conditions greeted volunteers and staff who also released Fiji, a green sea turtle, found near Honeymoon Island in December.

Fiji was brought to the aquarium after suffering from "cold stun," a condition that happens to sea turtles when they can't adapt to a fast drop in water temperature. The quick change affects their metabolism.

Fiji also had moderate fibropapilloma tumors, which grow on a turtle’s skin and can infect small parts of its body. Death can occur if not treated in time.

“We’re not sure why it happens,” Danielle O’Neil, director of the marine turtle program at the aquarium, said. “It’s a big, black box of research.”

The herpes-type tumors covered nearly 70 percent of her body, O’Neil said. The virus started to show up on juvenile green sea turtles in the 1970s, O'Neil said. Now, it is found on other types of turtles.

Rebel and Fiji are 13th and 14th turtles released by the aquarium this year.

During their months at the aquarium, the turtles were fed fish including capelin and herring. Near the end of Rebel’s time at the aquarium, he also snacked on live crabs, O’Neil said.

“There’s tons of prey out here,” O’Neil said. “It’s perfect for them.”

The Kemp's ridley sea turtle is one of the most endangered in the world.

"I think its important that we save everyone that we can," Coisman said. "Certainly there's a limited number."

Coisman, with his family along side, looked the part of a proud papa as Rebel swam off to sea.

"I think he's happy to be back in the wild," he said.