Former President Carter Lends A Hand To Wayward Keys Turtle

MARATHON (FLORIDA KEYS NEWS BUREAU) — During a holiday vacation in the Florida Keys, former President Jimmy Carter helped release a rehabilitated loggerhead sea turtle Tuesday.

Carter participated in the release of "Danger," a loggerhead turtle in the Atlantic Ocean, Tuesday after touring The Turtle Hospital. It is the only licensed veterinary facility in the world dedicated to treating and rehabilitating sea turtles.

The 102-pound reptile had convalesced at the hospital for three months after it was discovered lethargic and floating about two miles off the Lower Keys. Turtle Hospital personnel treated "Danger" with antibiotics, intravenous fluids and a healthy diet of squid, shrimp and fish.

Carter is in the Keys with wife Rosalynn and a number of family members as part of a holiday respite.

The vacation in the Keys is not the first for Carter and his family. In 1996, the family had New Year's Eve dinner at the Harry S. Truman Little White House in Key West and returned there for a visit in December 2007 during a cruise ship stopover.