Sea Turtle Hospital patient Yardstick received their swimming papers and was released March 30 at the beach side of River to Sea Preserve Boardwalk (Marineland Beach) in the town of Marineland, Florida.
Yardstick first arrived at our hospital on December 6 and was named during our “construction” naming theme. Yardstick was found washed ashore at Matanzas Inlet (just two miles north of our hospital). On intake Yardstick was debilitated and in thin body condition. He/she had a moderate Fibropapilloma (FP) tumor burden, with a large FP tumor protruding from his/her right eye. Upon intake, Yardstick adjusted to life in rehab well. He/she started eating seafood readily for staff and even started taking oral antibiotics, multivitamins, and calcium supplements well in seafood. On January 31, Yardstick was healthy enough to undergo surgery to remove his/her FP tumors.
Unfortunately, the tumor around Yardstick’s right eye had a lot of involvement in the upper conjunctiva and sclera and Dr. Brooke was forced to perform an eye enucleation (which is the removal of the eye). Not to worry, Yardstick was still able to be released and live a happy and healthy life in the wild.