Injured loggerhead sea turtle from Gulf Shores gets care at Mississippi Aquarium

GULFPORT, Miss. — The veterinary team at the Mississippi Aquarium is caring for a critically ill and severely injured loggerhead sea turtle that was pulled from Alabama waters near Gulf Shores.

The turtle became tangled in a fishing line last week at the Gulf State Park Fishing Pier in Gulf Shores and managed to escape, then was captured again on Oct. 7 and turned over to rescuers. According to aquarium officials, she arrived with multiple hooks and other fishing gear embedded in her flippers, shell and mouth, a severely fractured shell and barnacles covering her body.

Lyndsey Howell, NOAA’s Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network coordinator for Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, reached out to the Mississippi Aquarium because no other nearby rehabilitation center could handle a turtle of her size, said Alexa Delaune, the aquarium’s vice president of veterinary services. The team drove to Gulf Shores to collect the animal.

Dr. Sean Perry removed five hooks from the turtle’s limbs, mouth and body. Blood work showed the turtle is severely anemic with low protein, and X-rays revealed three more hooks in her gastrointestinal tract. Delaune said the shell injury appears old and likely the result of a boat strike, and that the turtle will need long-term, intensive care.

Loggerheads and fishing gear

Loggerhead sea turtles in the Gulf belong to the Northwest Atlantic population, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA’s Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network documents and responds to sick, injured and dead sea turtles along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. The Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport opened in 2020.

Anglers who accidentally hook or entangle a sea turtle in Alabama are asked not to cut the line and to call the state’s sea turtle stranding hotline at 1-866-SEA-TURTLE (1-866-732-8878), so trained responders can remove the gear and assess the animal.