Massive sea turtle washes up on Lewes Beach

A 300-pound sea turtle washed up on Lewes Beach shortly before 11 a.m. July 17, officials say.

Suzanne Thurman, executive director of the Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute Inc. responded after a call from 62-year-old beachgoer George Sokas of Lancaster, Pa., who discovered the turtle at the beach.

“I thought it was some type of a floating device,” said Sokas. “And then it just came in, and I saw it wasn't.”

Thurman measured the turtle at 3-feet-9-inches long. She said the sea turtle was an adult female loggerhead, one of four sea turtle species seen in the area.

She said the loggerhead was hit by the propeller of what was most likely a large ship and that it has been dead for at least a week. She said she thought the turtle was healthy after finding a horseshoe crab inside it.

“We'd like to say this isn't a common instance, but it is,” Thurman said. She said 25 sea turtles have washed up on the beaches since May.

“It's always a tragedy, especially to lose a female in the system,” she said.

Wendy Preston of Bridgeville also saw the loggerhead wash up.

Her oldest son asked what it was, so she sent him to look. “It was pretty sad,” she said.

Thurman says one theory is that the sea turtle could have been sleeping, and since turtles skim near the surface of the water when they sleep, a boat could have hit it.

The town of Lewes buried the massive loggerhead near the dunes.

Thurman said she received several calls about the incident. She urges beachgoers to call the Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute Inc. at 302-228-5029, when they discover stranded animals.