Mote Marine Laboratory

Lizzy the Leatherback Returns to Sea

By: Nadine Slimak

Arctic-cold wind whipped across Mote's rehabilitation deck on Jan. 7, 2010, as 15 or so Mote staff and volunteers gathered to begin the process of getting Lizzy, an adult female leatherback turtle, back to sea.
Lizzy's medical pool had to be emptied of water, Lizzy had to be placed on a special pad to protect her delicate skin and carapace, then placed in a sling. Thick yellow straps were attached to the sling and hooked to a crane that would lift her from the large pool.
By 9:30 a.m., the nearly 5-foot long, 800-pound Lizzy had been hoisted from the pool and placed into the back of truck driven by FWC biologist Rhonda Bailey for the trip from Mote's Sarasota hospital to the Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg.

Upon Arrival
Lizzy arrived at Mote Marine Laboratory on Jan. 5. She first stranded in Collier County in Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park on Jan. 4. State park staff and staff from the Collier County Parks and Recreation department eventually were able to coax the turtle back to the water and she swam away.
Lizzy was found ashore again the next day on Big Hickory Island in Lee County. Turtle Time Inc., Lovers Key State Park rangers, members of Lee County's Department of Natural Resources and staff from Pelican Landing rescued the stranded turtle by boat and brought her to the Carl Johnson boat ramp at Lovers Key State Park. Bailey transported the turtle to Mote, where she arrived around 4:30 p.m. (Read more about her arrival.)

A First
Lizzy is one of the heftiest animals Mote has ever worked with, outweighing the usual assortment of sick loggerhead and green sea turtles and even most of the dolphins and whales that arrive for rehab.
Her arrival was also a first for Mote: No leatherbacks have ever been treated here. In fact, leatherback turtles are a pretty rare sight along Southwest Florida's Gulf coast. Leatherbacks are commonly found in deep ocean waters and are the most migratory and wide ranging of all the sea turtle species.
They're also the most endangered of all sea turtle species, with the global nesting population estimated to be 26,000 to 43,000 — a dramatic decline from the 115,000 estimated to be in the nesting population in 1980.
Leatherbacks nest on beaches around the world, with the largest nesting populations found on the coasts of northern South America and west Africa. There are minor nesting populations in the U.S. Caribbean (primarily Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and in southeast Florida. Leatherback nests have rarely been recorded in Southwest Florida, although a leatherback nest did hatch on Sanibel Island (Lee County) in August 2009.
Leatherbacks are so named because they don't have shells like loggerheads or other sea turtles. Instead, their carapace is bony and their bodies are covered with a firm, rubbery skin that is easily injured. Leatherbacks are also difficult accommodate in aquariums because they are pelagic — deep water — animals that aren't used to boundaries or walls, so rehab with this species is rarely attempted.
"Due to the sensitive nature of its skin and carapace, we could not let the animal touch the bottom or the sides of the tank," said Joe Gaspard, Mote's manatee care coordinator who also helped coordinate the logistics of Lizzy's stay along with veterinary technician Lynne Byrd. "So we had to quickly engineer a specialized harness that would allow her to stay in the center of the tank while allowing her to constantly swim — which is another unique adaptation of leatherbacks."
Eric Kolek at Sarasota's American Canvas put the harness together and, during Lizzy's stay, Mote's staff and volunteers provided 'round-the-clock supportive care and monitoring.

From Sarasota to St. Petersburg
Releasing Lizzy as soon as possible was of the utmost importance, according to Mote veterinarian, Dr. Andy Stamper.
Scientists aren't sure why Lizzy came ashore. "It's possible the turtle was trying to nest and became disoriented," Stamper said. Blood samples taken during her short stay showed no clear signs of illness and, while it would have been ideal for the turtle to remain at Mote for several more days for additional blood tests to be analyzed, the fickle January weather and an incoming cold front meant that there was only a short window of time to get Lizzy safely back to sea.
At 11 a.m. on Jan. 7, a small convoy carrying Lizzy and the many people needed to help move her arrived at the Coast Guard station where her ride to sea awaited. The Fire Boat Patriot, Tampa Fire Rescue's brand new fire boat, was docked at the station and ready to go. Equipped with a crane and a large open deck at the stern, the boat was an ideal way to transport Lizzy and the release crew more than 20 miles offshore to the release site. For the Tampa Fire Rescue crew, the trip would be a way to get in a few hours of required training on the new vessel while doing something great for the wayward leatherback.
As a crowd of Coast Guard members watched, Lizzy was moved from the back of the FWC truck and placed on the dock next to the fire boat. Once her sling was attached to the FB Patriot's crane, Capt. John James deftly maneuvered Lizzy from dock to boat.

All Aboard
As Lizzy settled on deck of the Patriot, the release crew from Mote joined her for the two hour ride to sea. By 12:30 p.m., the Sunshine Skyway bridge was receding in the background as the vessel headed west at about 20 knots into the Gulf of Mexico.
Afternoon sunshine helped keep the crew warm as they kept a close watch to make sure Lizzy was comfortable during the trip. Lizzy was covered in damp towels and periodically misted with ocean water during the trip. By the time Lizzy received her last round of antibiotics, the boat had arrived at the release site 23.5 miles offshore in 66 feet of water.

"Good for the Soul"
At 2:10 p.m. Jan. 7, 2010, Lizzy slid off the back of Patriot. A few heartbeats later, staff and volunteers watched as Lizzy surfaced for a breath. Then another. And another. Then they all breathed, too.
"She slid off the back of the boat, went into the water and surfaced a couple of times for some good deep breaths. She did everything that she was supposed to," Stamper said. "And it looks like she oriented herself in the right direction - south."
For Stamper, that the release went so well was a relief. "My first patient out of vet school in 1993 — my first day of work, in fact — I was called about a stranded leatherback," he said. "That turtle had crab trap lines wrapped around both foreflippers and they were necrotic (dead). I had to euthanize that turtle. Seeing this leatherback released — knowing she's an adult nesting female that will contribute to the population — it feels like I've come full circle."
Firefighter Tom Meid, who helped pilot the fire boat, summed up a successful mission: "We would do this every day if we could. This is a great training mission for us and a great opportunity to do something good at the same time," he said.
Eve Haverfield, who had initially organized Lizzy's rescue from Big Hickory Island, was aboard the boat to see Lizzy safely home. "This was good for the soul and good for the heart," she said.

About Lizzy's Rehab
As a marine research laboratory and aquarium, it is Mote's business to understand our oceans and help teach people about them. We also feel compelled to try and save the many protected, threatened and endangered species that become ill or injured in our region. Helping these animals also gives us important information we can use to protect these species in the wild.      
Keeping the hospital open comes with a cost to provide the staff, the equipment, the treatment tanks needed and available at a moment's notice to treat animals like Lizzy. Treating each animal in our care also comes with a significant additional cost per day, depending on each animal's individual needs.
If you share our commitment to these distressed animals, we ask you to consider making a donation in support of Mote's hospital program now. We promise to use your donation wisely, and to use it where it is needed most. Click here for a quick and easy way to make a donation or call 941-388-4441, ext. 309.
Thank you.