Seaturtle Rehabilitation

An endangered leatherback seaturtle is being nursed back to health at the New England Aquarium. If successful, it will be only the second leatherback in history to be successfully rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

The 374-pound juvenile leatherback was first discovered on a beach in Massachusetts on the night of Halloween. A brief examination revealed no obvious signs of injury and the seaturtle was returned to the water. The next morning, however, the turtle stranded a second time.

Rescue workers decided to take the seaturtle to the New England Aquarium for medical treatment and eventual release.

Leatherbacks are notoriously difficult to keep in captivity. They can reach lengths of up to more than 8-feet and are not well understood. They eat a very specialized diet of mostly sea jellies and are accustomed to life in open ocean. As a result, they don't deal well with barriers and may repeatedly swim into the walls of their tanks and hurt themselves.

To get around this last problem, the seaturtle has been outfitted with a custom harness made out of felt-like car-wash strips, which allows it to move without colliding with the sides of the 3,600-gallon tank where it's being held.

The seaturtle is under 24-hour surveillance and aquarium veterinarians say its health seems to be improving. It's being fed a liquid diet, has been given antibiotics and is being treated for parasites.

--Ker Than

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Credit:  New England Aquarium