KEY WEST, Fla. — A 170-pound loggerhead sea turtle nicknamed “Molly” was back home Tuesday in the warm waters of the Florida Keys after successful surgery to remove a potentially deadly tumor inches from her head and months of recovery that went viral on social media.
In August, a charter fisherman found Molly, a loggerhead about 25 to 30 years old, trapped by commercial fishing lines tying her to a crab pot. The fisherman noticed that the lines were tangled around a huge tumor near the left side of Molly’s head.
“She had multiple tumors, but it was this 10.1-pound tumor that was really threatening her life,” said Bette Zirkelbach, director of the Turtle Hospital, a small nonprofit working to rehabilitate endangered sea turtles in Marathon, Florida.
“It was taking all of her good blood and she was anemic when she arrived,” Zirkelbach said. Once admitted, Molly received fluid treatment, antibiotics, vitamins and a pressure bandage on the large tumor to control the bleeding.
Molly underwent a three-hour operation to remove the tumor. Zirkelbach said this was the largest tumor ever successfully removed and after Molly was tested with proper blood work, she was ready to go home.
Hours before her release into the ocean, Molly was fitted with a satellite tracking device, which will allow the hospital and the public to follow her recovery and journey. The Sea Turtle Conservancy’s trackers cost about $5,000 and are attached via heatless epoxy to “glue” the bottom of the transmitter to the turtle’s shell. The goal is for the tracker to remain attached for six months to two years.
Molly’s tracker was attached to her shell, then she was transported via a “turtle ambulance” to Higgs Beach in Key West, where a crowd of more than 100 people waited to see her final steps on the sand. She was carried to the water’s edge, then once on the sand, she immediately headed towards the ocean and swam away.
Tristan and Tori Edsel had come from Columbia, South Carolina, and made the trip to the beach to witness Molly’s release. “I think she overcame all the obstacles with the tumor… and then managed to return to where she came from, the ocean,” Tristan Edsel said.
Zirkelbach reflects on the turtle’s long journey: “Molly helped so many people around the world fall in love with sea turtles. … She defied all odds.”
