Sea turtle died mysteriously soon after the officials released it on Jekyll Island last week. The officials at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center were unable to determine why one of their patients died within four days of being released. Report indicates that the loggerhead sea turtle was found dead early Monday washed up on the beach of Cumberland Island, just across St. Andrews Sound from Jekyll.
Center director Terry Norton conducted a necropsy on the turtle, which was deemed a juvenile although 10 to 30 years old. According to Norton the body of sea turtle was decomposed badly and so it was impossible to determine the cause of death. It had no obvious propeller wounds or other injuries. The loggerhead originally had been rescued in North Carolina where it was stunned by unprecedented cold last winter.
Center staff and volunteers had nursed it back to health. They named it Rostrum because another sea turtle had bitten it on the nose, which is the rostrum. The officials informed that Rostrum along with other three turtles were released on Jekyll Island a week ago today.
Mark Dodd, sea turtle program coordinator for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said that Rostrum had a satellite tracking device that showed it had been swimming in the waters near Stafford Shoals and south end of Cumberland Island. That area generally is known for high shrimping activity. If a healthy sea turtle dies, it’s usually the result of either commercial fishing activity, disease or a collision with a vessel, Dodd said.
