After a slow, steady recovery in Florida, a 375-pound loggerhead sea turtle named Bubba is swimming free in the Atlantic Ocean.

The male turtle was found with injuries to both front flippers on April 10 by biologists with the Inwater Research Group in St. Lucie County on the east coast of Florida. The biologists used a crane to lift Bubba out of the water into a pickup and take him to the Brevard Zoo’s Sea Turtle Healing Center in Melbourne, Florida, the center said in a news release this week.

Over the past three months, Bubba was given antibiotics, as well as regular wound cleanings and cold laser therapy for the injuries to his front flippers, which the Healing Center team suspected came from a predator attack.

A freshwater bath helped rid Bubba of "an intensive infestation of marine leeches," the center said.

Crowd bids farewell to Bubba

With his rehab complete, Bubba was taken to the seashore in Cocoa Beach on Thursday, July 11, and released into the ocean, while a crowd of onlookers bid him farewell.

One supportive little girl held up a sign that read: "Bubba, you can do it."

He apparently could. As soon as he was placed in the sand by the water, he started pulling himself to the sea. Dozens of people snapped photos and videos as he returned home.

Loggerhead sea turtle is largest turtle treated at the healing center

Estimated to be a 60- to 75-year-old breeding male – and likely a great-grandfather – Bubba is the largest loggerhead sea turtle the center has treated.

Among the treatments he got was "a procedure that removes old, dead tissue from a wound to promote further healing," Shanon Gann, the center's manager said in a Facebook post in June.

She also posted about how special it was for the center to help Bubba.

"He is an old, gentle soul," she wrote. "We are blessed to be a part of his journey 🐢."

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

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