PANACEA/ALLIGATOR POINT, FL (WTXL) -- Sea turtles along Alligator Point were impacted by Tropical Storm Colin.
Bill Wargo, director of the Alligator Point Sea Turtle Patrol, says all eight nests were wiped out when he canvassed the area Tuesday morning.
Monday, Wargo was called to a report of an adult female loggerhead turtle that was found washed out on Alligator Drive. Wargo said the turtle appeared to be in good health, but was seriously injured by the rocks and storm surges.
"We rescued it for the time being but it didn't survive," he said, "but it was fully intact. Fresh dead, but very badly beaten up. It didn't lose any limbs or anything, but the trauma of it killed the turtle."
The Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea often responds to live turtles that wash up inland. Director Cypress Rudloe says nesting grounds of sea turtles can become exposed or completely destroyed when strong storm surges come through.
Rudloe says hurricane season comes right when turtles tend to breed and that a strong hurricane season could put the turtle population at risk.
"In 2006, we had a very active hurricane season, where we had about seven or eight storms hit us," he said. "It actually can damage numbers of breeding populations. And because it takes so long to come up -- 25, 35 years -- depending on the species, a very active hurricane season can actually damage the breeding population 15 years down the road."
The lab recently acquired eight quarantine tanks to house turtles that wash up inland from storms like Colin.
