APOLLO BEACH, Fla. — A rehabilitated sea turtle is ready to make its way back into the ocean after receiving five months of care.
The Kemp's ridley sea turtle named Sergeant recovered at The Florida Aquarium's Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center after being flown to the Sunshine State when he was stranded in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
He was found to be cold-stunned and had a serious infection in his front flipper when he arrived along with seven other turtles of the same species.
Alyssa Fessett, a senior biologist at the aquarium, said cold stunning is when sea turtles get too cold in the water, and they're susceptible to infections, pneumonia and other complications.
Sergeant received extensive medical care with antibiotics and laser treatments to his flipper and is now ready to go back home. He will be released off the coast of Jacksonville and make the journey home.
"We put in a bunch of work, anywhere from prepping their food to keeping their water quality where it should be, and then also the medical side of things," Fessett said. "On a release day, once they go out and you see them take that first breath over a wave, it's a really magical moment where all of your hard work makes it worthwhile."
Kemp's ridley sea turtles are the smallest in the world and are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The main threats to them are unintended capture in fishing gear, such as flipper entanglement, direct harvest of turtles and eggs, loss and degradation of nesting habitats, vessel strikes, pollution and climate change, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
They mainly live throughout the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Atlantic seaboard from Florida to New England, according to the administration.