VENICE – Mote Marine Aquarium may be closed to the public, but the Suncoast gem continues its mission to rescue turtles.
“Even though our public aquarium is closed right now, our team is still on the field doing research doing conservation,” Mote Marine’s spokesperson, Stephanie Kettle, said. “And our stranding team are still responding to wildlife calls.”
Kettle says Friday, March 27, around noon, they got a call about a loggerhead sea turtle in distress near the Venice Jetty.
“Once I got the photos and saw how large the turtle was, I knew that we were going to need a lot of help, especially with it being a mile off of Venice of inland,” Mote Marine’s stranding technician, Jessica Blackburn, said.
So, Mote called for back up. Sarasota Sheriff’s Office and the Venice Police helped rescue the turtle.
The turtle is a 220 pound, adult female loggerhead.
When they arrived, they found her swimming erratically.
“We knew there was an issue just because she’s not able to dive down away from the boat,” Blackburn said. “So, whenever there’s a turtle that can’t or doesn’t dive down or leave when a boat approaches, you know there’s something going on.”
Blackburn says there were no physical concerns, just problems with the way she was acting.
“Once we got her on the boat, she was acting a little twitchy, she’s had some neurological signs,” Blackburn said. “So we were also concerned maybe she didn’t know which way was up.”
The whole rescue took about 30 minutes.
“It was much smoother than normal,” Blackburn said.
The turtle is nicknamed “Joyce” after Venice Police Officer Paul Joyce, the first trained responder to arrive on the scene.
Joyce is currently in rehabilitation at Mote Marine Laboratory’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital.
She didn’t eat through the weekend, but as of Tuesday morning, she took her first bite. Mote is awaiting test results on her condition.
“But she did eat, and she’s in water, so that’s the best we can ask for,” Blackburn said.
Kettle says they are thankful to the citizen for saving Joyce.
“The citizen did everything right, calling, listening to instructions, they did a great job,” Kettle said.
If you see a distressed marine animal in Sarasota or Manatee County, call Mote’s hotline number at 941-988-0212.
For all other Florida counties, you can call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 888-404-3922.
