Today was a BIG day for staff at The Turtle Hospital and for the Zinsmeister family.  Residents of Winter Haven, FL, Tom, Chris and Zach Zinsmeister came down to their home away from home for the Memorial Day weekend.  Intending to head out on the boat for a day of fishing, they instead ending up rescuing an endangered species–a 370-lb adult female green!  The turtle was entangled in the line of a stone crab trap and had been caught up for quite some time.

The right front flipper had already begun to self-amputate–basically rotting away from lack of circulation.  Cruising to shore to pick up Turtle Hospital Rehab staffer Tom Luebke, the group heave-hoed the turtle onboard the boat.

Farley has made it safely to The Turtle Hospital where she will undergo a full surgical amputation of the right flipper area.

“Farley” is named after actor Chris Farley from the film Tommy Boy.  Her rescuers noted that, while pulling aboard the rather large green, the heavy-weight began to tear the net, much like the character Tommy does during the sing-song scene “fat guy in a little coat.”  But in this case, our  star is actually a girl!