JUNO BEACH, Fla. — It was a chilly day on Florida’s east coast, but the sight of a loggerhead sea turtle with only three flippers swimming into the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday was warmly received by spectators.
The turtle, named Pyari, was released in the waters off Juno Beach, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center wrote in a Facebook post. Spectators cheered as the turtle swam away from the coast.
The turtle likely survived a shark attack but needed several months of rehabilitation to return to the sea, The Associated Press. She also was fitted with a satellite tracker to see how she adapts with only three flippers.
“Today we released Pyari back to the ocean after more than three months of treatment,” Loggerhead Marinelife Center officials wrote. “She is part of a pioneering study with Smithsonian Institute of Conservation Biology on the behavior of three-limbed sea turtles.”
The turtle was released in temperatures that were unseasonably cold for South Florida, dipping into the 40s. But the Atlantic Ocean temperature has remained high, near 77 degrees, Heather Barron, chief science officer and a veterinarian at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, told the AP.
Pyari is a Hindi term of endearment meaning “lovely” or “beloved,” the news organization reported. She arrived in South Florida and was housed at the Inwater Research Group before being transferred to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
“It’s definitely always very gratifying to see these animals go back into their ocean home,” Barron told the AP. “And I think it’s particularly gratifying when you can track them on satellite, and see exactly where they’re going and what they’re doing.”
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