Female loggerhead turtle named 'Mike' gets new start at life thanks to Mote Marine

SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — With the start of sea turtle nesting season just a couple of weeks away, Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota was able to rehab a female loggerhead turtle and return her back to the wild.

“Today we had an adult female loggerhead name Mike. Mike was named after the lady and her husband that found her on the beach. She didn’t realize it was a female but we stuck with the name,” said Lynne Byrd who is the Medical & Rehabilitation Coordinator at Mote Marine Lab & Aquarium.

When Mike was pulled from the Gulf of Mexico in January, she was one of several sea turtles who were in pretty bad shape from eating shell-fish that was infected with red tide.

“She came in an hour after another same size adult loggerhead came in and that one did not make it through the night. Mike was pretty lethargic, non responsive and she had secondary pneumonia and she was in pretty critical condition,” Byrd said.

But, after a couple of months of tender loving care at Mote Marine Lab & Aquarium in Sarasota, Mike got a clean bill of health and when she was released at Anna Maria Bayfront Park she put one foot in front of the other and in an instant, she was gone!

“She was very anxious to go. She was ready. Soon as we put her down in the sand she took one breath and shot off into the water, Byrd said.

And now that Mike is back to her old self, The staff at Mote Marine Lab and Aquarium are counting on Miss Mike to have a very productive mating season.