Rescued Turtle Released Back Into Gulf

I browsed internet and found this interesting article !! This incident happened on the 24th March 2009 I guess !! Have a look at it and we should save the turtles like what the little boy Jonah did !! Even though this happened in USA, but we have lots of save the turtles programmes in Malaysia as well !!

CLEARWATER - A crowd gathered on Clearwater Beach Tuesday morning to watch as Clearwater Marine Aquarium released a 134-pound loggerhead sea turtle. Since 2002 the aquarium has successfully rehabilitated and released 144 sea turtles, but CEO David Yates said it’s always exciting when they get to do this.

“Our goal at Clearwater Marine Aquarium is to rescue, rehab and release the animals back in the wild. Jonah is well so she’s going back in the wild.” Among those eagerly waiting was 5-year-old Jonah Aboulafia of Clearwater and his dad, Jared. They found the turtle in the Intracoastal Waterway near Honeymoon Island 10 months ago and immediately knew something was wrong.
“Well there was barnacles and seaweed on her back...and she was floating.”

The rehabbers at CMA named the turtle “Jonah” after the little boy. That was before they knew “he” was a “she.” They say she was very sick and emaciated with a wound on her shell. Manager of sea turtle rehab, Danielle O’Neil, said Jonah required intensive care and it took dozens of volunteers and staff to save her. “We had to tube feed her. We had to give her medications, injections. There’s a lot of time invested in an animal like this, especially considering she is a threatened animal. There’s so much time and care that has to go into this.”

Jonah paused briefly before heading for the surf (posing for one more picture perhaps?), then to the applause of the crowd, started swimming away parallel to the shore. O’Neil says this may not be a permanent goodbye. Female sea turtles usually return to where they were born to lay eggs. “They do nest along Pinellas beaches, so indeed, if she is a female, which we think she is, we might see her back here someday for nesting.