SeaWorld rescued the ailing sea turtle last year. She was missing a flipper. But one of the big problems? She was gassy.
Researchers and rescuers knew pretty quickly something was wrong with the green sea turtle they came across last year in San Diego Bay.
Yeah, she was missing a flipper. But that wasn’t the big issue for the sea creature now known as Gigi. She was buoyant — bad news for sea turtles, because the condition makes it difficult to dive and find food.
What followed was blood sampling, radiographs and finally a CT scan done at San Diego Zoo. And that’s when animal doctors realized it. Gigi was gassy.
With medicine and rehab, a now-thriving Gigi went home to San Diego Bay on Friday when SeaWorld San Diego released her into the water along Coronado’s Grand Caribe Shoreline Park.
Jeni Smith, left, curator at SeaWorld Rescue Center, and Brandi Ferrer, zoological specialist, right, along with other members of the center carry Gigi to the edge of San Diego Bay on Friday. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
It’s very near where she was found, said Jeni Smith, SeaWorld’s curator of Zoological Rescue.
Rescuers “are just hoping she will go find her little home” where she lived before she was rescued, Smith said.
She looked ready to return. The team placed her at the edge of the water, and she eagerly headed into it, soon splashing as she made her way to deeper areas.
Green sea turtles are classified as endangered. Blame a variety of threats including habitat loss, pollution and accidental capture in fishing gear, SeaWorld San Diego said.
“Gigi’s journey highlights the critical conservation efforts needed to protect these majestic creatures,” SeaWorld spokesperson Tracy Spahr said.
Last June, a team from NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center was in the field doing health assessments on green sea turtles when they found Gigi buoyant and listing to the side, Smith said.
They flagged SeaWorld, but diagnostics took time. It didn’t seem to be the missing fin, which was already healed.
“It’s a problem-solving job to kind of find out what’s going on with the animals. It’s not super apparent,” Smith said.
SeaWorld San Diego rescues and returns roughly five sea turtles a year. Finding Gigi on June 15, 2023, came at curious timing — earlier that same day, the rescue team had released a different sea turtle back into San Diego Bay. That one had also undergone a long rehab after a family found her months earlier, ailing and missing a flipper. The family was from Georgia, so the turtle was named Georgia.
When Gigi was found, it seemed like Georgia 2.0, Smith said. Thus came the name GG — or Gigi.
She said it’s hard to say how old Gigi is, but doctors determined she is not yet a mature female. By the way, sea turtles missing a flipper can survive just fine in the wild, Smith said.
Gigi is returned to San Diego Bay. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Her return also brought cheers from two young children who’d been digging in the sand at the small beach.
Gigi is home, but there are still two other sea turtles undergoing rehab at SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Center.