Feeling ducky, Lucky goes home
Loggerhead that wouldn’t die leads a quartet of turtles back to sea

Virginia Beach – As Lucky effortlessly disappeared into the Chesapeake Bay Tuesday morning, there was nothing to suggest that the immense turtle had been on the brink of death a year ago.   Weighing in at about 111 pounds, Lucky – and three other smaller turtles – were returned to the water after rehabilitation at the Virginia Marine Science Museum Stranding Center.   Last summer, when a surfer dragged Lucky from the ocean at Croatan Beach, the loggerhead weighed half as much. Comatose and dehydrated, his shell had been cut so deeply by a boat’s propeller that his lung was exposed.   Staffers and volunteers at the stranding center gave him his moniker because he was lucky to be alive.   “You could see his organs and his lungs,” said volunteer Lisa McFarland. “His shell had been cracked by a boat, so we were trying to right that wrong.”

  That meant around-the-clock attention, thousands of dollars in sonograms, antibiotics, feeding tubes and a gourmet diet of fresh shrimp, rockfish, mussels and scallops, she said.   Girl Scout Troop No. 435, from Kings Grant, adopted Lucky and raised $100 to help care for him. The 13 girls showed up at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base Tuesday to watch their reptilian pal return to his natural habitat.   “Here comes Lucky! Lucky! Lucky!” shouted the crowd if Girl Scouts and volunteers’ children. It took several adults to carry the turtle to the water’s edge.   “He’s as big as you are!” shouted McFarland’s 6-year-old son, Evan, to a friend.   Lucky’s large unblinking eyes seemed to assess the scene quickly and he showed no hesitation as his tan legs and head dipped into the water. Within moments, he had disappeared into the Bay.
  The crowd erupted in cheers.   The moment was significant to many of the adults there who had seen more turtles die from their interactions with boaters and fishing nets than live.   “Usually we find the turtles dead on the beach,” said Marty Costello, an environmentalist at the base. “This is very rewarding.”   Stranding canter volunteers echoed that sentiment.

  “The majority of animals we see are dead or dying,” said Mary Gibbons, whose company, Gibbons Surgical Corp., donates instruments to the center to help with feeding.   The stranding center, one of the most active on the East Coast, sees hundreds of sea turtles and marine mammals, including dolphins, whales and seals, each year.   The other three creatures released Tuesday were much-smaller Kemp’s ridley sea turtles named Sun, Moon, and Captain Morgan. Sun and Moon had been stunned by cold weather in New England in 1999 and had various skin and shell lesions. They came to Virginia Beach in July via Mystic, Conn., and the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, said Joan Barns, spokeswoman for the Virginia Marine Science Museum.   Captain Morgan was found floating and listless off of Assateague Island in June. He was suffering from lesions and pneumonia, but made a quick recovery.   All of the turtles had to be able to hunt and eat on their own before they were eligible for release, Barns said.   “It’s hard to say goodbye,” Lisa McFarland said, as she stood on the shore trying to trace Lucky as he swam away. “But it’s great to see him doing so well.”