Full Notification

Make plans to visit the Living Coast Discovery Center and see their new resident: an endangered Loggerhead Sea Turtle named Sapphire! The twice injured and rehabilitated turtle arrives today from the Florida Keys, via a chartered flight donated by FedEx, to join the center’s permanent marine wildlife exhibit.

Sapphire, a 130-pound female Loggerhead estimated to be a sub-adult (teenager), comes to the Living Coast from the Turtle Hospital based in Marathon, Florida. In February 2010, she was rescued after being struck by a boat propeller. She was rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

In May 2013, she was readmitted to the hospital after being found floating in Florida Bay, near Sapphire Key. The reptile was covered in a “skirt” of epibiota (sea grass and algae) around the lower end of her carapace, indicative of floating for several weeks or perhaps months at the water’s surface.

After several months of treatment, the Turtle Hospital’s rehabilitation team and Florida wildlife officials determined she was not a candidate for release. A search for a new “forever home” began and The Living Coast responded to the need.

Following a day of rest and observation, Sapphire will be available for public viewing beginning Saturday, Sept. 27, at 10 a.m. Animal lovers can also follow Sapphire’s journey in real-time on her new Twitter account (@SapphiredUp) and on the Living Coast’s Facebook page. (www.facebook.com/thelivingcoast).

Sapphire’s new home will be in a 21,000-gallon temperate ocean water tank in the Living Coast’s Shark and Ray Experience, with a large glass underwater viewing area that offers visitors the opportunity to get face-to-face with these marine creatures.

More information about the Living Coast Discovery Center is available at www.thelivingcoast.org or (619) 409-5900.