He was covered in barnacles — but people picked them off one by one.
Just off the coast of Tasmania this week, fishermen spotted something they don’t normally see – a large loggerhead sea turtle – and they realized he desperately needed help.
He was a big guy – about 220 pounds – but he was very lethargic. He couldn’t even submerge himself in the water and he was covered in barnacles, which suggests he’d been sick for a while.
![](https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/2524520/480x640/scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg)
“Marine turtles are rarely spotted in Tasmanian waters, and this one was clearly in poor health,” wrote Marine Conservation Program (MCP), a government group who came to the rescue of the turtle, after the fishermen caught him and brought him to get help.
The turtle was given temporary accommodation at a fish market overnight, according to MCP, which brought him for a veterinary exam the next day.
![](https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/2524521/792x634/scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg)
Veterinarians gave him X-rays to see if he’d ingested fishing gear or plastic. According to MCP, loggerhead turtles often end up eating plastic bags, mistaking them for jellyfish.
![](https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/2524522/792x415/scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg)
Luckily, this particular turtle, it turned out, dodged these dangers.
![](https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/2524523/792x634/scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg)
So rescuers gave him some strengthening fluids and picked the barnacles off of him, one by one.
![](https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/2524524/640x480/scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg)
When he seems a bit better, MCP will figure out what’s next for him.
But for now, he’s resting.
![](https://assets3.thrillist.com/v1/image/2524525/640x480/scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg)