Lenny and His Journey Home

When underwater photographer Mike Papish discovered a 322-pound, injured loggerhead sea turtle in the Florida Keys, he knew something had to be done and fast. 

While photographing off the coast of Islamorada in the Florida Keys, Mike Papish spotted Lenny in a shocking state. He was struggling to swim, and the visible injuries that surrounded his body were ghastly. The photographer acted quickly and with the help of his friends at Sundance Watersports, was able to load Lenny onto a boat and get him to the shore. Once the crew made it to the mainland, a “turtle ambulance” scooped Lenny up and transported him to Turtle Hospital. 

The Turtle Hospital, located in Marathon, Florida, is a non-profit organization that works with various species of sea turtles. As an organization, they prioritize rehabilitation, research, and release. Furthermore, the Turtle Hospital is one of the few places that track the turtles once they are released back into the wild. Since opening its doors in 1986, the Turtle Hospital has provided constant assistance to the Florida Keys region and continues to uphold those standards into the future.

During Lenny's primary inspection at the Turtle Hospital, manager Bette Zirkelbach knew that his injuries needed to be addressed immediately. Lenny had lost part of his front flipper and had severe scarring on his head, and from the size and aggression of the injuries, the team could assume a shark had attacked Lenny. Lenny's injuries were cared for with extensive treatments, including various IVs and antibiotics.

Only 1 in every 1000 sea turtles survives into adulthood, so Lenny’s survival was crucial to upholding the next generation. Lenny's survival into adulthood already showed he had troubled the statistics, so it was up to the team to ensure that he would continue. 

After a couple of short weeks in the Turtle Hospital, Lenny had been fully rehabilitated and cleared for return to the wild. On March 25, the team released Lenny back into the waters where he had been saved a couple of weeks prior, and they happily watched him swim away through a multitude of cameras.

Lenny showed the world his effective resilience toward the elements, and his return to his original habitat provides more hope for the future of his kind. (Written on July 24, 2025)