Green sea turtle released back into the wild

Surviving a deadly wound after almost a year in recovery, on Wednesday, conservation officials released an endangered green sea turtle back into the wild.

Flapping its fins, one green sea turtle couldn't wait to swim back home. "We named her McCutie," shared Sara Hamilton. For the past 10 months, McCutie was in the care of Sara Hamilton, the curator at Underwater World. Last Christmas, a resident found the helpless turtle bleeding on a beach in Agat under a pile of leaves. A spear came close to piercing its brain.

 

"When she came in, she had a spear wound in the head, also one to the side, and she appeared to have some damage on the eye. Luckily the eye damage was superficial and she recovered quickly but the wounds took more time to heal," Hamilton said.

The attack could've ended tragically, but slowly, McCutie made a full recovery. Wednesday morning conservation officers looked on as officials from the Department of Agriculture and Biologists released the turtle back into the wild.

An exciting moment for vet care taker Dr. Genevieve Weaver, who said, "It was just exciting I love seeing her go, to coming in thinking, oh she may not make it, and to taking off it was awesome."

The team hoping to educate the public about preservation efforts. "Green sea turtles come they use the island some for nesting but also it's an important foraging site, so it's always really important for us to watch out if we see them nesting on the beach to leave them alone, but we also want to be mindful of the trash that we're disposing so we're not putting it out in our ocean," said Hamilton.

If you spot a turtle along the beach, especially if it looks injured, you're advised to not pick it up and instead call the Department of Agriculture or GPD's non emergency telephone line at 472-8911.