Fourth sea turtle dead on area beaches

[SoWalSally]

BY RACHEL KYLER SUN REPORTER




A dead Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle washed ashore in front of homes in Blue Mountain Beach Wednesday.
It is the fourth turtle to die on South Walton beaches this season. Two turtles died due to the beach nourishment project and one washed ashore earlier this month.
The animal appeared to have been hit by a Jet Ski, Sharon Maxwell, founder of South Walton Turtle Watch said.
In Maxwell’s opinion, the discovery was a nesting female. It is the time of the year turtles are looking for mating and nesting grounds, she said.
Wednesday’s discovery was unique. Though it is not unusual to find other types of sea turtles along the coast, the endangered Kemp’s Ridley’s have never had a documented nest on South Walton’s beaches, Maxwell explained.
Maxwell hopes the recent deaths are not a precursor of things to come. Last year there were more dead sea turtles than those that nested. Turtle Watch recorded 23 strandings and 20 nests.
“I was sorry to see it,” Maxwell said about the incident.
The turtle was taken for further evaluation.

[BlueMtnBeachVagrant]

..... The animal appeared to have been hit by a Jet Ski, Sharon Maxwell, founder of South Walton Turtle Watch said.

I'm just curious. How does one know if a "Jet Ski" hit the turtle vs. any other water craft? Based on where it was found, there aren't very many jet skis that I see out in the gulf. Contrast this with all the "cobia cruisers" going up and down the beach during this same period of time.

I found this comment odd when I first read the article. And now this posting reminded me of it again.

Just an observation.

[Miss Kitty]

I wondered the same thing BMBV.

[kurt]

A supposition: Turtles are killed by fast moving craft. A fast boat would cause prop injury. Jet skis cause blunt trauma. It could have been hit in Destin and washed up here, or swam aways before dying?

Or maybe it was a shark with a baseball bat.

[BlueMtnBeachVagrant]

A supposition: Turtles are killed by fast moving craft. A fast boat would cause prop injury. Jet skis cause blunt trauma. It could have been hit in Destin and washed up here, or swam aways before dying?
Yes indeed.... a "supposition", and a possible one at that.

A slow moving cruiser with twin drives could "supposedly" do the same thing...right? (i.e. turtle goes right down the middle of the V-hull and clears both props). Or a single drive boat could "supposedly" hit the turtle just off center (relative to the boat) as to miss the prop all together...possibility?

Oh yea... it could have been one of those new lifeguard jet skis that save people's lives. But those are just people they're out there saving.

Again, it was just an odd statement to be included in the article. No problem with the author, just the quoted commentary. If it said something to the tune "appeared to be blunt trauma caused by possibly a jet ski or other boat", then I wouldn't bother pointing it out.

I hope you see my point.

Or maybe it was a shark with a baseball bat.Probably a golf club (sand wedge) based on applied turtle forensics. :D

[Cil]

Maybe there were injuries on the shell which might be consistant with a jet-ski type of vessel?
The way people zoom around on those things, I do not think it impossible that they could hurt anyone or anything that gets in their way.