A rehabilitated green sea turtle was released back to the ocean in the Florida Keys on Friday to mark Earth Day.
Several hundred onlookers watched on Marathon’s Sombrero Beach as staff from the Keys-based Turtle Hospital released “TJ Sharp,” a 65-pound (30-kilogram) juvenile sea turtle that was rescued in February. The endangered reptile had been discovered floating offshore, unable to dive and visibly affected by fibropapillomatosis, a condition that causes cauliflower-like tumors and affects sea turtles around the world.
