Turtle Taken By Minnesota Tourist Returned To Gulf

An endangered loggerhead sea turtle illegally taken from Florida by a Minnesota tourist is being returned to its native waters.

Wildlife officials will transport the 4-year-old turtle by boat Thursday into the Gulf of Mexico off southwest Florida.

The baby turtle was taken from the waters off Sanibel Island in 2004. It was no bigger than a half dollar coin when it was anonymously dropped off at the Minnesota Herpetological Society.

The turtle lived at the Minnesota Zoo for a year, then was transported to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples.

For the past two and a half years, the turtle has lived in a patch reef aquarium at the conservancy. It needed to grow a shell more than a foot long before it could be returned to the Gulf.

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