Jackal is a former patient at our Sea Turtle Healing Center who suffered from a boat strike. They were released in 2022.

In honor of World Turtle Day and National Safe Boating Week, our Zoo would like to take a moment to share the best ways we can safely coexist with our sea turtle friends. 

As Florida’s weather warms up each spring, our Sea Turtle Healing Center historically sees an uptake in sea turtle patients who have suffered from boat strike injuries. Vessel strikes are one of the leading causes of sea turtle deaths each year, especially during nesting season. In Florida alone, 20 to 30 percent of stranded sea turtles are observed to have injuries from these life-threatening strikes, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.  

When a sea turtle comes through our doors with a vessel injury, it’s all hands on deck to assess their condition. Take LJ, for example! LJ is a former sea turtle patient of ours who came in with a boat strike injury along their shell, anemia and low kidney function.  

LJ was one tough cookie!

Their recovery journey was quite an intensive one, including consistent medications, negative-wound pressure therapy and being fed through a tube. Our team was happy to fully recover LJ and release them back to their ocean home in late 2022. 

Despite our hard work to rehabilitate as many sea turtles as possible, not all turtles are as lucky as LJ. Because of these boat strikes, we unfortunately have had no choice but to euthanize many recent patients who were left with irreversible injuries.  

Boat strikes typically cause severe damage to a sea turtle’s carapace (their top shell), head and flippers. Many of these injuries happen when sea turtles come up to the surface of water to breathe, exposing their heads and the top of their shells. Neurological issues, spinal cord problems and lung damage often arise in cases where a turtle’s head or carapace is injured, leaving the turtle with little to no chance of survival in the ocean. Sadly, more often than not, boat-related injuries are fatal because they end up damaging vital organs that are beyond our Healing Center’s care, said Sea Turtle Healing Center Coordinator Jess Patterson. 

“The hardest cases for me to cope with are ones where we are presented with a super healthy, young turtle with a single propeller strike across the carapace,” Jess said. “That pain weighs on you, especially when you are getting handfuls of these cases back-to-back, sometimes multiple in one day.” 

We can help our flippered friends continue to live their best lives in their natural range by being mindful around our waterways. Sea Turtle Program Manager Shanon Gann recommends reducing your speed and assigning a person to act as a lookout for nearby marine wildlife like sea turtles. By slowing down your speed, you give sea turtles that may be around your vessel more time to flee the area. Boaters also can invest in a propeller guard, which not only protects sea turtles from harm but safeguards a vessel from damage, too.  

Remember, sea turtles are a keystone species in their ecosystems, making them an integral part of their natural habitat and its inhabitants. It’s our collective responsibility to protect these beautiful marine creatures and the oceans they call home! 

Have you found a sea turtle that needs help? Visit this page or call the Sea Turtle Preservation Society at 321-206-0646. Want to help the Sea Turtle Healing Center? Support our Zoo, or view our Healing Center’s wishlist.