Spotted and stranded on the sand in Mission Beach on Labor Day 2021, extremely lethargic and could barely hold her own head up, an endangered green sea turtle was rescued by the SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Team.

More than a year later, Lefty was returned to the ocean on Tuesday, Oct. 11, south of the Coronado Islands where she will hopefully swim toward warmer water where she will thrive the most.

Upon arrival at the SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Center and Hospital last year, staff performed radiographs that showed that the turtle appeared to be impacted, the veterinarian team performed surgery and removed a large amount of red algae from her GI tract. Nicknamed Lefty as she was missing a portion of her left rear flipper when she was rescued – with no evidence to have had any impact on her ability to survive in the wild – was under critical care watch with team members and vets watching her 24/7 for a few weeks.

Once stabilized and no longer needing round-the-clock care she had a CT scan where it was thought that she may have a foreign object in her digestive tract. She was brought into surgery a second time and the team was unable to find a foreign object but removed more red algae. Post-surgery she was prescribed ampicillin and sulbactam IM and then switched to oral meds once she was consistently eating.

In addition to surgeries, her rehabilitation involved starting in a shallow pool with various water levels as she grew stronger and started to eat squid and romaine lettuce on her own.

Her health over the past year was up and down, the veterinarian and rescue teams noticed a few months into her rehab that she was not moving her right flipper when swimming on her own even though radiographs did not show any signs of injury. Observations had shown that she moves her right flipper less than her left flipper but because she still had relatively normal movements, it did not appear that she was in any pain and she could swim at her leisure.

In July, her care team noticed that she wasn’t eating her lettuce or squid and she was brought back into the lab for radiographs where they saw a stricture in her small intestine along with an accumulation of matter in her intestine. She had a second CT scan where they also noted that she had osteomyelitis developing in her right shoulder. She was prescribed ampicillin and sulbactam and metronidazole but their use was discontinued once she was eating and appeared to be processing her food.

In recent months, she was showing health and behaviors that the veterinarian and rescue teams felt indicated that she was ready to be returned to the ocean.

Lefty’s rehabilitation time was longer than most sea turtles due to her changing health conditions observed, plus the need to wait for weather warm enough for her to acclimate upon return to her ocean home and be comfortable for her second chance at life. During her exit exam, she was measured, x-rayed, and administered a PIT tag on her right flipper.

SeaWorld’s legacy of animal rescue spans more than 50 years, with more than 40,000 rescues companywide, SeaWorld San Diego continues the company’s commitment to rescuing and caring for marine animals. Its teams are on call 24/7/365, partnering with multiple government agencies to rescue and help animals in need of care. If a person sees marine mammals, sea turtles, and sea and shore birds in distress, contact the SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Team at 800-541-SEAL.