THE CITIZEN (Key West, Florida) 13 July 08 Sea turtle hacked and left to die (Timothy O'Hara)
Marathon: A loggerhead turtle was taken to the Marathon Turtle Hospital on Saturday after it was hacked up with either a machete or a large knife and left for the dead in the waters off the Seven Mile Bridge.
The loggerhead turtle, a state and federally protected species, was wrapped in bandages Saturday morning and recuperating at the hospital. It suffered severe deep cuts to its head and neck, Turtle Hospital Executive Director Ryan Butts said. Butts had concerns about the cuts and whether they hit the brain. Even if the turtle does not die immediately from its wounds, the animal could suffer a bacterial infection in the brain and die later, Butts said.
"The prognosis is not good," Butts said. "We are treating the animal as best as we can."
The turtle was found Saturday morning along the shore at the north end of the bridge, Florida Fish and Wildlife Officer Bob Dube said.
"The animal was half butchered by either a machete or large knife," Dube said.
Butts said the attack was unnerving.
"It's something you have to face every once and a while. It has only happened a handful of times in the last 20 years," Butts said. "I hope it is something we won't see a lot of."
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers had not arrested anyone as of Saturday afternoon, but the investigation is ongoing. Dube suspected that the person or people involved intended on eating the animal.
"By the time we got there, everyone had scattered or did not see anything," Dube said.
The species is listed as threatened and its numbers have dropped nearly 50 percent in the last 10 years, Butts said.
Sea turtle hacked and left to die