The Florida Aquarium Rehabilitates and Releases Eight Sea Turtles Back to the Atlantic Ocean

August 1, 2024

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Ormond Beach, FL (June 26, 2024) – After three months of intensive care at The Florida Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center in Apollo Beach, FL, eight juvenile green sea turtles will be making their way home to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday.

The turtles stranded off Florida’s east coast in March and had been exposed to prolonged cold air and water temperatures. They all suffered from low body temps and had to overcome medical conditions such as skin infections, pneumonia and other bacterial infections. Initially triaged to University of Florida’s Whitney Lab Sea Turtle Hospital and Volusia Marine Science Center through a partnership with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), these eight turtles, along with 22 additional green sea turtles, transferred to The Florida Aquarium in March for long-term supportive care, including antibiotics, and to fully recover.

Following successful treatment, the turtles will be transported from the Aquarium’s Apollo Beach rehab center to Ormond Beach Wednesday morning for their return to the ocean.

To care for turtles like these, The Florida Aquarium opened its $4.1 million Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center in Apollo Beach in 2019. The two story, 19,000-square-foot center features five rehabilitation pools, including one of the state’s deepest turtle-exclusive dive pools, and a state-of-the-art surgery suite.

All sea turtle rehabilitation work conducted by The Florida Aquarium is done with the approval of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) under conditions not harmful to marine turtles and authorized under conservation activities pursuant to FWC MTP-24-179.