The Brevard Zoo’s Sea Turtle Healing Center team is diligently caring for a loggerhead turtle named Mischief, who lost a flipper due to entanglement in fishing gear.
Rescued in October 2023 at the Sebastian Inlet, Mischief’s right front flipper was trapped in a crab trap line, leading to loss of circulation and limb death.
After a 6-hour operation to amputate the flipper, the veterinary team is optimistic about Mischief’s future. Sea turtles are known to survive and thrive in the wild with three flippers. However, Mischief faced challenges during recovery, including a second surgery to clean the wound of debris and dead tissue.
Mischief’s journey to rehabilitation is ongoing, and the Healing Center is committed to returning the sub-adult loggerhead to the ocean. The team also emphasizes the broader issue of marine life danger from abandoned fishing equipment.
They urge anglers to manage their gear responsibly and advocate for environmental consciousness, including proper trash disposal and reducing single-use plastics to protect sea turtles and other marine species.
Loggerhead
The loggerhead turtle, known for its large head and strong jaw muscles, thrives on hard-shelled prey like whelks and conch. It’s the most common sea turtle species nesting along U.S. coasts, particularly around Sebastian and Vero Beach.
Loggerheads, both young and mature, frequent U.S. coastal waters, but many adults migrate from nearby nations like the Bahamas, Cuba, and Mexico for nesting.
In the U.S., loggerhead numbers have dwindled due to accidental entanglement in fishing gear, including trawls, gillnets, and longlines.
Steps like using turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in shrimp trawls, regulating gillnets, and modifying fishing equipment have reduced unintentional turtle catches in certain fisheries.
However, unintended capture in fishing gear still poses a significant threat to loggerheads.
Their nesting season spans from March 1 to October 31. Remarkably, each turtle can lay up to six nests per season, with each nest holding 80-120 eggs. In 2023, the loggerhead experienced a significant year.
Loggerhead sea turtles are the most common in the area, creating 8,639 nests, a 15% increase from last year.