At the end of its rope

Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Jerry Tupacz was just finishing his work managing turtle nests and packing up his boat when he noticed something strange in the distance.

Tupacz steered the boat a little closer to the disturbance to see what it was. Suddenly, a gigantic turtle burst into the air, gasping for air and struggling with a rope around its flipper.

Rope from an old crab pot wound tightly around the animal's left front flipper, leaving a deep gash and ensnaring the turtle between a buoy on one end of the rope and a heavy piece of metal sinking to the bottom.

Volunteers and crewmen from the Cape Island Turtle Project set about trying to help the male loggerhead, but it was no easy task. The turtle weighed about 300 pounds and measured approximately 4 1/2 feet long. Male loggerheads also have sharp claw-like toes on their back flippers and are known to bite.

At first, Tupacz and a turtle team volunteer, Jim Hawkins, tried to free the animal but realized it was hurt, so instead they towed it to shore so they could bring it to safety.

It took four people to lift the massive amphibian onto the boat, and five people to lift it from the boat onto the bed of a pickup truck. The confused turtle struggled to stay out of the boat and truck, giving plenty of cuts and bruises to those unlucky enough to be in the way of a giant flipper.

The animal is now at the "turtle hospital" at the South Carolina Aquarium, where doctors are rehabilitating him so he can be released back to the wild.

Kelly Thorvalson, coordinator of the Sea Turtle Rescue Program, said the rope didn't cut down to the bone, and the flipper can be saved.

"It's very, very swollen and looks as though it's infected, so it will certainly require some medications and some external treatment to heal those wounds. But overall, the turtle is in good health," She said.

It's the first adult male turtle that has ever come to the aquarium.

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources biologist Charlotte Hope said most people never see males because they don't come on shore to lay eggs.

"I've been doing turtle work for 23 years and that's about the fifth male I've seen — I mean adult male. That's how rare that is," Hope said.

Reach Lucia Walinchus at 937-5921 or at lwalinchus@postandcourier.com.