Loggerhead Sea Turtle Takes Dip In Islamorada Pool

ISLAMORADA (CBS4) – South Florida pool owners may find a wayward alligator or snake in their backyard every once in a while but in the Florida Keys, it was a disoriented loggerhead sea turtle that got lost and ended up in a beachside home's swimming pool in Islamorada.

Islamorada Fire Rescue Department spokesman Glenn Taylor says the residents of the home found the almost 300-pound reptile Sunday morning in the pool about 100 feet from the beach.

It took six firefighters and two other men to catch the turtle and move it to the water's edge, where it walked back into the Atlantic Ocean and swam away.

Taylor says the reptile had dug two nests, but did not lay eggs.

Richie Moretti, founder of the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital, said the turtle was confused and ended up on the pool, because it was likely attracted to light coming from the home.

"When they return to the water, turtles look for the light areas of the horizon," Moretti said. "But if there's a brighter light nearby, they will go to that."

Moretti said that turtles often come out of the water, dig nests, but don't lay eggs because something is not to their liking. When "false crawls" happen, he said, the turtles are likely to return nearby within a few days to try again.

He said a female loggerhead of that size is about 50 years old.

(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)