The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
Sea Turtles Mars was released January 24 at River to Sea Preserve in the town of Marineland. Mars was a critical case during her stay here at Whitney Laboratory. She stranded in downtown St. Augustine on March 26 debilitated, emaciated and heavily covered in epibiota, along with small fibropapilloma (FP) tumors. When our veterinarian, Dr. Brooke Burkhalter, initially examined Mars, she found a bacterial infection affecting a large portion of her carapace (shell) and the top of her head. She was considered a critical patient during her daily intensive care months after her arrival.
While handling her recovery from the infection her FP tumors were continuing to grow, so it was very important to start removing those tumors in numerous small surgeries. After 10 months and four tumor removal surgeries, she has been deemed tumor free and cleared by our veterinarian for release. Ms. Mars has been with us for quite a bit of time and it has truly been an amazing experience to see how resilient sea turtles can be!
Top photo, taken by Nancy Condron