Sea Turtle Kiwi Released December 9

Sea Turtle Kiwi Released December 9

Published: Monday, December 13, 2021

Sea Turtle Hospital patient Kiwi was released at Washington Oaks State Park on December 9. It was in Kiwi's best interest to have a small private release to lessen any additional stress to make this animals return home as successful as possible. The release was shown live on the Sea Turtle Hospital's Facebook.

Kiwi is a small juvenile green turtle that was found buoyant and struggling to dive in New Smyrna Beach close to Chicken Island on March 22nd. Kiwi had a low body temperature upon arrival. She was initially transported to Volusia Marine Science Center where it was confirmed Kiwi was FP positive. She was then transferred to the Sea Turtle Hospital at Whitney Laboratory.

Our veterinarian did a complete exam and after a few days, Kiwi’s buoyancy issue resolved. She was transported for a CT scan at Precision Imaging in St. Augustine. CT results showed no internal tumors. Several days later, our veterinarian performed an endoscopy where we saw healthy internal organs and learned this animal was female. Kiwi recently had surgery and is currently “tumor free”. She had several more months of recovery and treatment and was then ready to go home!