Ocean Sentry
(From state-journal.com)-Marley, an endangered sea turtle about to die, made a miraculous recovery thanks to three John Witts from Frankfort and a rescue team. The three saw the stranded turtle while walking out on a jetty, a break wall for ships coming into port from the Gulf of Mexico. Waves had slammed the turtle into rocks and jammed it tightly between two boulders. They thought it was dead. It was in critical condition, suffering from a “raging bacterial infection and was only an hour or two away from death,” said STI curator Jeff George. Recalling Marley”s release day, John Witt, 79, says when they returned to the rescue center, “I really believe Marley recognized me. It”s hard to say for sure but when I tapped on the tank, she came right to me. She knew it was me.” George said the Witts saved Marley”s life and are heroes. “Marley has made all three of them sea turtle conservationists.”
Marley weighed 19 pounds when he arrived at the rescue center and 32 went he left. Nearly extinct in 1985, the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is coming back slowly due to a joint Mexico/USA nesting beach conservation effort.
(BY CHARLIE PEARL)
