By Cheryl Blackerby
The little olive ridley sea turtle rescued on Lantana Beach on Christmas Day is on the road to recovery at Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
“She was moved into a bigger tank because she had been bumping her head against the sides of the smaller tank she was in,” said Kat Rumbley, Loggerhead communications coordinator. “This tank just gives her more room to swim.”
Meghan is the only documented olive ridley found stranded in Palm Beach County and the first this far north.
The turtle, whose condition was listed as critical when she arrived at Loggerhead, was treated for external wounds, given a glucose IV, antibiotics to prevent infection, and iron to treat anemia.
When she was rescued, she weighed only 65 pounds; the ideal weight for an adult olive ridley is about 100. She now weighs 79 pounds. In the days after she was found, she had to be fed intravenously, then was tube-fed a slurry of fish and vitamins. Now she is eating fish on her own.
Meghan arrived with a constriction injury to the front left flipper, which caused extensive tissue damage. X-rays showed no bone damage.
Her flipper wounds are all healing well.
Meghan started her journey around Central and South America, and at some point was swept along in the Gulf Stream — all four flippers tangled in fishing net — before landing on Lantana Beach, thrashing in the surf.
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