WPTV (West Palm Beach, Florida) 30 July 08 Jonah the loggerhead turtle dies (Eric Glasser)
Juno Beach, FL: "This one was difficult," said Deb Mauser.
Over the years, the hospital coordinator for the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach has seen turtles come and go. And over the years she's only cried, she says, twice.
But on Monday, Mauser wept, when she came to work and found Jonah, the young loggerhead turtle she'd helped raise from a hatchling, dead.
"This one hit. This one hit hard," said Mauser.
Jonah came to the Marinelife Center about three years ago when he was barely three inches long.
An angler had caught a fish, thrown it in his bait-well, and a few minutes later noticed that the fish had spit out a baby turtle.
That was Jonah.
Over the years, Jonah helped countless kids learn about the reptiles, becoming by far, the Marinelife Center's best known resident.
Still, when Jonah was big enough to survive on his own, they released him.
"We actually had him for a little over two and a half, close to three years," says hospital coordinator Melissa Ranly.
Unfortuantely, just two months later, Jonah was back.
They knew by looking at his tags it was him.
Jonah had been found with a fishing hook in his throat and a wire leader in his stomach. They removed it, and for a while it looked like he was recovering.
But last week Jonah took a turn for the worse, suffering a kind of paralysis known as Lethargic Loggerhead Syndrome.
"We did surgery to remove the hook and leader, which was a pretty simple process," says Ranly, "But the neurological symptoms were really the big concern."
Visitors who know Jonah's story reacted with disappointment and sadness, but they know the Marinelife Center gave the young turtle, more than once, a chance at life he might not otherwise have had.
And perhaps, even in his death, said visitor Kris Brecher, Jonah continues to teach all of us a valuable lesson.
"If you're gonna fish, if you're gonna be outside, realize anything you do effects other parts of the ecosystem."
Biologists at the Marinelife Center aren't yet sure if Jonah's injuries exacerbated his problems or whether he would have died of a disorder regardless of his ingesting that hook.
They're sending his body off for lab tests hoping whatever they learn may save other turtles in the future.
Jonah the loggerhead turtle dies