Nesting Sea Turtle Hit By Car, Dies On Anna Maria Island: Organization

ANNA MARIA ISLAND, FL — A female loggerhead sea turtle was hit and killed by a car on Anna Maria Island early Wednesday morning, officials said.

The turtle, who nested in the dunes, became disoriented towards a street light illuminating a crosswalk on Gulf Drive, the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch & Shorebird Monitoring organization said in a news release.

It will be taken from a necropsy by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“Sea turtles use light to find their way back to the water after nesting — heading away from dark shadows and towards the brightest horizon, which is usually the light of the night sky over the water. Disorientations occur when sea turtles fail to orient towards the water and travel towards artificial light instead,” the group said.

Sea Turtles are federally protected by the Endangered Species Act and state laws. There are also local ordinances that protect sea turtles by prohibiting lights that can be seen from the beach.

To protect nesting sea turtles, people can turn off lights, use turtle-friendly red or amber LED bulbs, or shield lights from the beach to prevent them from disorienting sea turtles.

The recently killed turtle laid eggs before moving towards the road, “so her legacy will continue,” Kristen Mazzarella, the organization’s executive director, said.

The turtle’s nest is in danger of disorienting if the lights aren’t modified before it hatches, the organization said. Last year, 105 of 404 nests on Anna Maria Island were disoriented.

Anybody who sees a sea turtle in distress on Anna Maria Island, should call the organization at 941-301-8434 or the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-3922.