Amputee Sea Turtle Can Now Swim Again Thanks To Prosthetic Flipper

You would think animals would have a particularly hard time taking on to prosthetic limbs, especially animals who use said limbs in order to swim but sea turtles Rocky and Lola, 60 years old and 17 respectively, are showing us that’s not quite the case.

Lola has already had a number of prosthesis over the course of two years and has grown accustomed to swimming with them after losing hers due to ocean garbage. Rocky on the other hand, who had been injured a long time ago due to a boat accident, had to adjust to swimming with just one front flipper, aided by a jacket-like device.

TIME / YouTube

Because green sea turtles are an endangered species, Rocky could not be released back into the ocean and was rescued by the Key West Aquarium in Florida.

Enter prosthetist Kevin Carrol who took it upon himself to build a flipper for Rocky in his own free time – a project which would normally cost around $6000 to finish.

Hanger Clinic/SWNS

Rocky used his new flipper for the first time back in September and has been, ever since, spending about an hour a day using it.

In the beginning, Rocky used to swim in circles because of it, but he’s been receiving physical therapy during this time and has since started to slowly ease into swimming like he used to.

If you want to keep updated with how Rocky and Lola are doing, you can do so by accessing Key West Aquarium’s Facebook page, who posts regularly about the two turtles.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed for you, Rocky!