Kimberly and Rick Ellis were having lunch at Meigs Park Thursday when the Shalimar couple looked out and saw what appeared to be a bag of garbage floating in the bay. Rick got out his binoculars and aimed them at the floating mass.
“Oh no, it’s not trash,” he told his wife.
He waded out thirty to forty feet and pushed in the object, which turned out to be a 300-pound plus dead loggerhead turtle.
The couple called the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, which helped them get in contact with the Emerald Coast Animal Refuge. Refuge workers arrived to collect the turtle, with the help of Rick and other folks at the small park.
The male loggerhead, which had no obvious signs of injury, was at least 60 years old, according to refuge director Amanda Wilkerson. The loggerhead turtle is endangered.
His head alone probably weighed 25 to 30 pounds, Wilkerson estimated.
Though the Ellises had never seen a turtle like that in the bay, Wilkerson said they do seek calmer waters at times.
“Particularly if he’s an old guy and the water gets rough, he might have come in to get away from all the waves,” she said. “Hopefully he died of old age.” (read more)
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