JUNO BEACH, Fla. — After being without turtles for four weeks, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center has a new patient.
The turtle is named Milo, and it is in pretty bad shape.
The animal had to have a fin amputated and has a fractured skull.
Milo comes to the Juno Beach facility after the Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission kept the center from receiving new turtles because of poor water quality at the facility.
Officials at the center claim they identified and fixed the water problems.
They brought in its first turtle on Friday for the first time since Jan. 19.
The stranded loggerhead had been treated at the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne.
Contact 5 wanted to know why it took nearly a month for the center to finally get back in the business of treating injured sea turtles.
"We thought it was best when we resumed operations to have a phased approach, to have a gradual approach," said Loggerhead CEO Kyle Van Houtan. "We started with a certain criteria that we were working with, and this is the first turtle that showed up that fit those criteria."
Despite Milo's severe injuries, the turtle experts at Loggerhead said it should be able to make a full recovery.
Van Houtan said the facility should be treating more turtles by the end of the month.
