Turtle Takes Wrong Turn Into Tank

Despite special grading to keep sea creatures out, a green sea turtle swam into a pipe at the Edison Station at Ormond beach and ended up in a holding tank.

Volunteers from the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center hoisted it out and called the Coast Guard to help them take the confused and injured turtle back out to sea.

Coast Guard Seaman Mike Howell said the power station draws saltwater from the ocean in a 14-foot-diameter pipe. That water is sucked into a holding tank to provide coolant. It has a special grading system to keep out flotsam and jetsam.

“Somehow this guy got through,” Howell said. “He was there inside this pool. It was a 40-foot-deep well, and he was swimming around this well.”

Howell said the male turtle’s shell was about 2 1/2 feet long. The front portion of his shell got knocked off by his journey through the pipe, but Howell said it was only the first two to three layers of his seven-layer shell, so he should be fine.

Howell said the turtle was green with brown spots, flipper feet and black obsidian eyes “like an alien,” Howell said.

Once the mammal rescuers caught the turtle in the tank, they rushed him to the Coast Guard in a portable dog kennel. From there, he was taken to the open ocean.

He was released at oil platform Gina, about halfway between Ventura and Anacapa Island.

“I was concerned, because he was lethargic and exhausted,” Howell said. “But as soon as we let him go, he was off like a bat out of hell. He was really happy to be back.”