Now she’s lighter, feistier and healthier.
At first glance, Molly looks like any other loggerhead sea turtle, her reddish-brown shell gliding gracefully through the water as she surfaces for air. But just two weeks ago, Molly arrived at The Turtle Hospital in South Florida in rough shape — covered in barnacles and carrying rare, massive tumors.
“She was very quiet when she came in,” said Bette Zirkelbach, general manager at the hospital, speaking to The Dodo. “It was really bad.”
A charter fisherman had spotted Molly near an island in the Florida Keys. At the time, she was tangled in commercial fishing lines, which had wrapped around her body and tethered her to a crab trap. Alarmingly, one line was caught around an enormous tumor on the left side of her head.
“One of the largest tumors we’ve ever seen!” the hospital posted on Facebook. The tumor was caused by fibropapillomatosis (FP), a viral disease that’s very rare in loggerheads — Zirkelbach has only seen two other cases in her career.
The fisherman met the hospital team at the dock, and staff quickly freed Molly from the lines, providing fluids and antibiotics. They wrapped her tumor and called in a veterinarian to perform surgery.
Currently, the most effective treatment for FP involves removing the tumors and supporting the turtle’s immune system. The Turtle Hospital is preparing to join a research study aimed at better understanding and treating FP, which is more commonly seen in green sea turtles.
Molly’s surgery took three hours to remove her 10-pound tumor, and she handled it remarkably well, likely feeling much lighter afterward. Once she regained some strength, staff turned to the barnacles covering her shell.
Barnacles, tiny crustaceans that hitch rides on sea turtles, aren’t usually dangerous. But when there are too many, they can slow a turtle down or even cause infections if they burrow into the skin. Removing them was a key part of Molly’s recovery. She patiently let the team pry off each barnacle, then received a thorough rinse and antimicrobial treatment — essentially a spa day for a sea turtle.
Back in her hospital tank, Molly paddled energetically, gliding through the water with her smooth, cleaned shell.
“She is biting and feisty now, which is a really good sign,” said Zirkelbach. “It makes her harder to handle, but it shows she’s fighting and strong — exactly what you want to see in a loggerhead.”
Molly continues to recover well, growing stronger by the day. There are no signs of internal tumors, and her checkups have gone smoothly. Zirkelbach hopes that soon, the “Marvelous Miss Molly” will be ready to return to the ocean, where she belongs.