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What started as a regular Saturday morning turned into an unexpected rescue mission—and a powerful reminder of the impact one caring family (and a few quick calls!) can make.
While biking through a park in Old Town Key West, a young girl spotted two tiny hatchlings crawling in the grass. The family immediately contacted the Key West Wildlife Center, who quickly reached out to Save-A-Turtle. At first, we were skeptical—sea turtles in the park? But we rushed to the scene just in case.
Around the same time, we received a call from a Navy officer. A known nest had hatched the night before and many of the hatchlings disoriented and went the wrong way! Although efforts were made to collect all the hatchlings, early morning reports showed that some were definitely missed.
That’s when the real search and rescue began.
SAT volunteers gloved up and fanned out across the park and surrounding area, carefully combing through thick grass and scooping up any hatchlings they could find. With concerns that some may have slipped into nearby storm drains, our team reached out to trusted contacts in the city. Thanks to their quick response, eight more hatchlings were safely recovered from two separate drains.
Fortunately, those particular drains empty directly into the ocean—so even if a few got away, there’s still hope they made it to their blue home.
By the end of the operation, 23 hatchlings had been rescued from streets, drains, and lawns—and were safely released that evening, cheered on by a few lucky spectators (from a safe distance, of course!).
From spontaneous heroes to Navy support to Key West city employees to dedicated volunteers, this was a true community effort.
We like to think of those little ones as Navy SEALs in training—small but mighty, and ready for the big blue ahead. 💙🐢
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