Sea turtle with hooks in throat and stingray barb lodged in mouth has surgery in NC
A sea turtle with hooks and stingray barb lodged in its throat and mouth got help from a North Carolina aquarium.
The 103-pound loggerhead was brought to the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island after being hooked off a fishing pier last weekend, the aquarium said.
The STAR Center treats injured and sick sea turtles, brought to it by the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles and the National Park Service, according to its website.
The hook was “far down” in the turtle’s throat and the barb was lodged in a sensitive area of its mouth, and the aquarium determined the turtle would need surgery to have them removed, it said Thursday.
A scan to find where exactly the hook was then revealed that there was a second hook “deeply embedded in the esophagus” from a previous incident, the aquarium said.
The surgery was successful and the veterinarians think the turtle will fully recover and be able to be released, the aquarium said.
“Sea turtles are quite the survivors, and this one is no exception,” the aquarium wrote on Facebook.
This story was originally published July 28, 2019 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Sea turtle with hooks in throat and stingray barb lodged in mouth has surgery in NC."
