On a beautiful afternoon in the Florida Keys Rich Dorn of Marathon decided to go boating.  While he stopped his boat to put on sunscreen he spotted a 257 pound Loggerhead sea turtle, later named Bev.  Bev was entangled on a lobster trap pot line by her left front flipper.  She was struggling and tired, and probably had been for days.  Rich called the Turtle Hospital, and staff member Andy came out to the rescue!  When Andy arrived at the scene he realized he would need more than two people to lift this huge turtle.  Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC) officers were on the scene shortly after to assist.  Working together the four men were able to lift Bev onto the FWC boat and she was immediately transferred to the Turtle Hospital for treatment.  Further examination of the entanglement injury showed that the flipper had to be amputated.

Dr. Doug Mader arrived Tuesday morning to remove the injured flipper.  The removal of the flipper was successful and Bev will now recover in a her hospital bed tank while her stitches heal.  Even though Bev is missing that one flipper she will still be able to survive out in the wild without it and will be released as soon as possible.