POSTED: 6:36 pm EST November 21, 2006
UPDATED: 11:48 am EST November 22, 2006
MIAMI -- Seven sea turtles came back from the brink of death to swim another day in Miami on Tuesday.
Experts at the Miami Seaquarium worked with the four loggerheads and three greens for several months.
"On this one, a boat propeller struck his face," Dr. Maya Rodriguez said of a turtle called Terminator. "We really didn't think
he was going to make it."
They call him Terminator because he has plates in his head and weighs about 250 pounds.
Another turtle released on Tuesday was Big Red, a 75-pound loggerhead that was rescued from Red Tide on the west coast.
"They come in. You watch them get better. You spend your time with them, feed them. It's a process and this is the culmination
of it all. It feels real good," said Paul Roc of the Seaquarium.
And the turtles put on a show for those lucky enough to be at the Cape Florida Beach on Tuesday, like a group of boys from
Chicago.
"We don't see turtles that much and we don't see big ones like this," one boy said.
Loggerhead turtles are a threatened species and green turtles are endangered. Experts said even if only one of those released
on Tuesday survives to mate it will make a difference.
"One female sea turtle can lay hundreds and hundreds of eggs," Rodriguez said.
NBC 6's Ari Odzer reported that no one knows where the turtles will end up because they're migratory and can go anywhere.
,p>
"Sea turtles know where to go. It's some mystery that they have innate in them," Rodriguez said. "It's very exciting for us to
put them in the water and see them take off. These are sea turtles that were barely alive a few months ago."
Copyright 2006 by NBC6.net. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.