Sea Turtle Kadarius Released June 27 at Gamble Rodgers State Park

Kadarius was released back home to the Atlantic Ocean on June 27th at Gamble Rogers State Park.

Kadarius was recovered by a fisherman who found him floating in Ponce Inlet on January 24th, 2018. After being taken to Volusia Marine Science Center for triage, he was transferred to us here at Whitney Laboratory for treatment of his fibropapillomatosis the next day. He had tumors in both of his eyes, his shoulders, one on his plastron (bottom part of shell) and some large tumors in his inguinal area (near his tail). As this is our fourth year in operation, we’ve been carrying on a theme of naming our turtles based on the number four. The player who wears the number four for the Florida Gators football team is Kadarius Toney. The turtle Kadarius required three tumor-removal surgeries to remove all of his FP tumors. After months of healing he’s recovered very well and then was returned home.