Featured Image Credit: Devon Ravine, Dailey News
By Sarah Sharkey
Recently, nine sea turtles were released by the Gulfarium CARE Center in Destin, Florida. Seven of these turtles were recently rescued after a mass “cold stunning” event.
Solo, Yoda, Chewie, Boba, Ren, B.B. and Padme, were the names of the most recently released. The “Star Wars” movies inspired the names. All of these turtles were picked up by rescue crews after being found floating lethargically at the ocean’s surface.
The two additional sea turtles were Kudzu and Seadar. Kudzu was a juvenile green sea turtle and Seadar was an adult loggerhead. Both of these turtles were found with severe injuries and brought into the CARE Center for treatment. Both of the turtles were deemed healthy enough to return to the wild.
The director of marketing and communications at the Gulfarium, Meredith Horn, opened the release ceremony with, “We’re thrilled to be here today, and seeing the crowd like this out here is just amazing. CARE is an acronym for ‘Conserve, Act, Rehabilitate and Educate,’ and this is a great opportunity to not only educate the public through awareness on what these sea turtles are facing, but we hope these messages and these stories continue to be shared throughout the community and throughout the Emerald Coast.”
Solo was the first turtle released and he swam back into the ocean with supportive cheers from the hundreds of people who came to see this special moment.
Learn more from our source here.