Sea turtle released in Cape Cod after being rescued

A giant sea turtle was released off the coast of Cape Cod Sunday after it was rescued.

The 655-pound, seven foot-long leatherback turtle was found by the Massachusetts Audubon Society stranded in mud Wednesday in Truro near Provincetown, Mass.

The Associated Press reported that the turtle was suffering from low blood sugar and was about 100 pounds underweight.

He also had an injury on his fin.

The turtle was taken into an animal care center and given a cocktail of vitamins, minerals, antibiotics and steroids along with a sugar solution.

“When he first got here he was fairly lethargic, especially out of the water,” lead veterinarian Charles Innis told the Boston Globe.

“We were fairly aggressive with this turtle because we have not been successful the last two leatherbacks we’ve had."

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The turtle quickly recovered in the New England Aquarium.

The Boston Globe said that in the last 40 years, the aquarium has only cared for four leatherback turtles that were stranded on shore – none survived.

The open-sea loving Atlantic leatherback turtle is an endangered species and cannot be easily kept in captivity as they are too large and, apparently, crave freedom more than other turtles.

“They’re not used to any sort of restrains, they’ve never seen a wall,” Connie Merigo, the aquarium’s rescue director told the Boston Globe.

“They’ll continue to struggle, they’ll continue to swim forward.”

According to ABC News, leatherbacks tend to make their way to Cape Cod in June to eat jellyfish and then go south in winter.

There are only a few nesting sites for the rare Atlantic leatherbacks in the world mainly in Africa, Central America and the Caribbean.