Meeko, a young adult loggerhead sea turtle, is recovering at the Gulfarium's sea turtle C.A.R.E. Center after having surgery to remove fish hooks from her intestines.

By Devon Ravine 315-4427 | @devonrnwfdn dravine@nwfdailynews.com

NOTE TO READERS: This is the second of a three-part series following the rehabilitation and release of Meeko, a loggerhead turtle who was rescued near the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier in late September.

Surgery can be challenging when your patient is covered in a hard shell of bone and keratin.

Such is the case with Meeko, a loggerhead sea turtle that was captured six weeks ago near the pier at Navarre Beach covered in fishing tackle.

The sub-adult female was brought to the C.A.R.E. Center, a non-profit facility at the Gulfarium that rescues, rehabilitates and releases injured sea turtles.

C.A.R.E. Center staff removed about three pounds of hooks, lures and line from Meeko’s shell and flippers. They also took X-rays, which revealed Meeko had swallowed seven hooks and a lead weight from her time dining near the pier.

"Outwardly Meeko was eating and clinically doing well," said Dr. Rebecca Wells, the Gulfarium veterinarian who is overseeing Meeko's care.

Inside was a different story. It became clear from analyzing X-rays over several weeks that the hooks were firmly lodged in Meeko's intestines and would have to be removed if she was to survive.

But how do you operate on an armor-plated animal?

"It's difficult to go through the actual shell," said Wells, who likened it to cutting through bone. "But there's a nice window in front of the back legs,” she said, pointing out the fleshy area where the turtle's flipper meets its shell.

So, borrowing surgery facilities at the Emergency Veterinary Clinic in Niceville, Wells anesthetized the 105-pound turtle and made an incision near her back flipper. From this area, Wells was able to reach inside Meeko’s shell and remove the fishing hooks embedded in her intestines in a surgery that lasted about two hours.

"Had we not surgically intervened, this would have led to a life-threatening infection," said Wells, who found inflammation and tissue damage to Meeko’s intestines during the surgery.

Because the anesthetic depresses lung function, the C.A.R.E. Center’s Graham Northup used a hand-held ventilator to ensure that Meeko got air into her lungs during and after surgery.

"Turtles do everything slow," said Wells. "The get sick slow, they anesthetize slow and they recover slow."

Wells said that turtles sometimes take eight hours or more to come out from anesthetic enough to begin breathing on their own. Fortunately, in Meeko's case, it took only about an hour before the turtle began to move her flippers and the operation could be deemed a success.

"We kept her drydocked, basically out of the water for a couple days," Said Wells, "To make sure everything was healing appropriately. When we put her back in the water she started eating right away."

Two weeks later, Meeko is swimming slow graceful circles, chasing down the herring that drop, as if by magic, into her saltwater tank at the Gulfarium. Wells said that if Meeko continues to heal and gain weight, and the Gulf of Mexico stays warm, she could be going home in three to four weeks.

The exact time and place of Meeko's return is up to Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, but Wells said she doubts it will be near the pier at Navarre Beach where she was caught.

"Hopefully she'll learn her lesson and stay away from some of the fishing piers," said Wells.