Green Sea Turtle Release – Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman, a juvenile green sea turtle, came to Clearwater Marine Aquarium on October 16, 2015 from an intercostal waterway in Palm Harbor. The presence of Fibropapilloma tumors were noted on her neck and tail, and one very large distinguished tumor was located on her front left flipper. She also suffered from a hook and line entanglement, mostly around her tumors, that resulted in no significant damage to the soft tissue of her body. She quickly started being tube fed and then moved on to solid food. She was initially placed in a kiddy pool, due to the weight of the tumor that was on her front left flipper, to insure she could surface to breathe.

By early November, Wonder Woman was able to stay in deep water all day and throughout the night. On December 11, 2015 she received her first pap removal surgery to remove that massive front flipper tumor. After surgery she was reluctant to use that flipper and was kept in a kiddy pool until she healed enough to be in deep water full time again. She received weekly wound care to make sure the surgery site healed properly. Wonder Woman unfortunately developed a tracheal infection that was treated with surgery on December 29, 2015 when veterinarians manually removed debris and mucous from her airway. She then received nebulizer treatments twice a day until the end of January when her breathing improved. Wonder Woman underwent two more pap removal surgeries on March 23, 2016 and May 10, 2016 to remove the last of her tumors.

After a long road to recovery, Wonder Woman has been cleared for release by Dr. Marquardt. We wish her all the best out there in the big blue!

Watch the sea turtle release video: