Lifeguards Save more than just People!
By Justin Broman, Lead Lifeguard, SIB Ocean Rescue

On Saturday, August 4th, the City of Sunny Isles Beach Ocean Rescue department had a very special rescue. Being a lifeguard, we feel that it is our job to save anything with a heartbeat. It could be a pelican, seagull, a sick or injured dolphin, or even a manatee. On this occasion, the lifeguards went above and beyond to save a very large loggerhead sea turtle.

Lifeguards Juan Mejia and Patrick Furelos were doing their normal surveillance and scanning of the water when they spotted a dark object. Juan went out on the rescue board while Mike Fiorey coordinated the rescue effort on the beach. Shortly thereafter, Matt Acquaro arrived on the scene with the Jet Ski to assist with the rescue. When the lifeguards realized they had an injured turtle, they knew they had to be very careful transporting the animal. Mike then swam out with a rope to secure the turtle and bring her to shore. Jesus Mezquia arrived on the scene to assist, as well. With our lifeguards working as a team, they transported the turtle onto a truck belonging to our local turtle expert, Bill Ahern, of Miami Dade County. Bill says that in the past several years, there has been an outbreak of a particular virus among these turtles, which affects their central nervous system. They start moving slower and with a build up of algae and barnacles on their shell, their feeding becomes more difficult and they begin to starve.

This sea turtle was a female, about 20 to 30 years old and approximately 150 pounds. There have been over 191 loggerhead sea turtle nests found in Dade County, this year alone, from Golden Beach, all the way down to Key Biscayne. And out of the eight different types of sea turtles in the world, the loggerhead is the only one considered to be threatened, not endangered.

Bill transported our rescued turtle to the seaquarium where they performed a variety of tests and x-rays. They monitored the turtle’s condition while giving her fluids and antibiotics.

The seaquarium vets informed us that after about 3 to 6 months of rehabilitation, our sea turtle friend will be let back in the wild. They said that if it wasn’t for the rescue efforts by our lifeguards, the turtle would not have lived much longer. So, GOOD JOB to the rescuers and good luck to our loggerhead sea turtle friend.

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