Like many others in Southwest Florida, I have a great respect and appreciation for nature and the wildlife that inhabits our area.  I know how lucky we are in SWFL that we get to experience the raw beauty of so many species living in paradise.  Unfortunately, many people today living and working in highly populated cities may never take the chance to experience nature at its best like we get to every day. 

While it is somewhat common for us to see dolphins, fish, birds and manatees in our waterways, we had a unique situation occur a few days ago when a leatherback sea turtle came ashore.  For those of you who have been following the news, you know that she was first spotted on Monday morning on the beach at Delnor-Wiggins State Park in Collier County where they figured her weight to be between 500 to 600 pounds.  She looks absolutely beautiful from the images!  According to the Collier County Parks & Recreation organization, it is the first time in history that one of these types of turtles has come on our local shores.    Apparently, she had made her way to us all the way from Costa Rica.

At first they thought she may have been nesting due to patterns she had made in the sand, but now they think she may have been affected by the cold weather.  She was helped back into the water where she eventually swam out of sight.  Then she popped up in Bonita Springs yesterday morning and officials decided to go ahead and get her transported to the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida.  Upon evaluating the turtle they found her to be in critical condition, but they have since stabilized her and are monitoring her around the clock. 

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about this because it makes me proud to live in an area that has so much respect and compassion for nature.  People here take situations like this very seriously and do whatever they can to help.  Personally, I try to get involved as much as possible and am actually a member of both the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Humane Society of Naples.  IFAW was actually started by some friends of mine back in Cape Cod and is the organization that single handedly stopped the Canadian seal industry from clubbing baby white seals for their coats.  Thank gosh for groups like this that make a difference for animals each and every day.

There is an unspoken agreement here that if we are lucky enough to live, work and play around such beauty, we have to be responsible enough to make sure we do what it takes to keep our area the natural wonder that it is.  I am sure everyone agrees with me in saying that we hope for the best for the turtle, and thankfully she is in the best hands now to be rehabilitated and set back into the wild.