A huge pregnant sea turtle was returned to its home off the Florida coast on Wednesday after it had been injured by a boat.
Pennywise, an adult female sea turtle weighing 302 pounds, was cleared for release into the wild after she received treatment from the Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s veterinary team in Palm Beach County, Florida.
The endangered sea turtle has been laid up and recovering since May, according to the Associated Press.
It took six volunteers to get Pennywise back to the beach and dozens of others to show up and record the moment the reptile was set loose.
The volunteers gently set Pennywise down and let the big lady crawl her way along the sand and back into the surf. The onlookers cheered when the turtle disappeared beneath the waves.
The Inwater Research Group reportedly found Pennywise and rescued her from the beach before handing her off to the vet center for treatment, according to Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
Marika Weber, a veterinary technician at Loggerhead Marinelife Center told the AP that boat strikes on sea turtles usually leave the reptiles dead, so Pennywise was fortunate to not only survive the incident, but to then be found and receive treatment.
“Sea turtle interactions with boats are fatal. So seeing Pennywise survive her injuries and being able to make it to our center was very, very special,” she said. “It was something that we could fix, heal her up and get her back out into the ocean.”
Treating Pennywise wasn’t without some difficulty, considering her size. The team at the vet center had to transport the turtle to a horse clinic — the Palm Beach Equine Center — to perform diagnostic imaging on her due to her size.
During her imaging, the team learned that Pennywise was pregnant.
Sea turtle nesting season is in full swing, and thanks to the care she’s received, Pennywise will have the chance to lay her eggs while she’s at full health.
“It was a really exciting day,” Weber said. “We had the community — our whole team here at the hospital, all the departments out there — to wish her well.”
The vet center is asking boaters off the coast of Florida to remember that sea turtle nesting season is between March 1 and October 31, and asks boaters to slow down and watch for turtles heading for the beach.
All sea turtles are considered endangered or threatened and are protected under federal law.
