Turtles Return Home

In a turtle’s world, sometimes you can go home.

Sixty of 63 green sea turtles were returned to the sea last Wednesday, in what could only be described as a joyous occasion for both the turtles and their human helpers.

Almost 100 of the turtles were cold-stunned by the extremely cold temperatures that briefly hit the Panhandle during the first several days of this month.

Ninety-five turtles, both dead and alive, were removed from the waters of St. Joseph Bay by a coalition of wildlife agencies, turtle patrols and other volunteers over a period of four days.

The final count at the time of last Wednesday’s release was 32 dead juvenile green sea turtles and 61 returned to St. Joseph Peninsula for release.

However, during the release, wildlife officers decided to release only 60, adding one more to the two turtles left for further observation at Gulf World in Panama City Beach.

A crowd of about 20 people came to participate and watch what is a fairly uncommon event.

Although the turtles were taken from the south end of St. Joseph Bay, they were released into the Gulf off St. Joseph Peninsula, where, according to wildlife officials, the water was warmer than in the bay.

Only the eight to 10 people in the group who were licensed under the state’s turtle permits were allowed to carry the turtles from the vehicles down to the surf.

But everyone gathered at the water line to cheer on the turtles as volunteers set them, singly and in pairs, on the sand at the tide line.

Within a minute or two of being placed in the tidal wash, most of the reptiles began awkwardly scraping their flippers on the sand as they struggled to catch the receding tide and paddle into the surf, where outgoing waves carried them back out to open Gulf waters.

One of the people allowed to handle the turtles was Carrie Levins, a biological technician with the Fisheries Assessment and Research division of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Panama City Beach.

She described some of the work the team did during the turtles’ convalescence at Gulf World.

“We were able to tag about nine or 10 of the turtles, which is a pretty good percentage,” she said. “Then we photographed them all and mapped their shells. If they return and are picked up again, we can trace them.

“I’ve been working with turtles for years, but this is the first time I’ve participated in a release,” she said. “It’s amazing.”

During the winter of 2001-02, in a major stun event in St. Joseph Bay, 62 turtles died out of 463 turtles rescued. There was a smaller turtle stun event in the bay in 2003.