On February 6, Florida local Clara Macciocchi was running along the beach when she came across a green sea turtle that had washed ashore.
Little did she know, her evening was about to turn into the “craziest night ever.”
“That is not normal, and I need to call someone,” Macciocchi said in a TikTok video, realizing that the sea turtle was struggling to keep its head above the lapping waves.
When she called the Clearwater Marine Aquarium animal helpline, they asked her to wait beside it until their sea turtle stranding coordinators could arrive.
“I’m just going to stay here to make sure no one messes with her,” Macciocchi said as the video continued.
At one point, the sea turtle attempted to swim back into the ocean, but its flippers were weak, and it soon grew lethargic.
“She’s really having trouble; I don’t know what to do,” she said, her voice rising with concern.
Very quickly, it became clear that the sea turtle might drown if Macciocchi didn’t step in.
“I think this is illegal, but I think I have to grab her,” she said.
In the United States, it is illegal to touch sea turtles under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. However, wildlife experts agree that there are exceptions to the rule in extreme circumstances.
"Basically, if it's gonna be a life-or-death situation for that turtle, we can deputize people to pick it up and hold onto it for us. That is legal,” Andrew Orgill, a sea turtle specialist and staff supervisor at the Amos Rehabilitation Keep, has advised. “There's a Good Samaritan act as well.”
On that cold February day, when the sea turtle’s situation seemed dire, Macciocchi decided to intervene and gently move it a few feet from the waves.
“Had to go with my gut on this one,” she said. “I’m just going to wait it out with my little buddy here.”
When the rescue staff at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium spoke to her on the phone again, they told Macciocchi that she had done the right thing.
“They told me to keep her on shore,” she said, her worry growing as the sea turtle’s eyes closed.
In total, Macciocchi stayed by the sea turtle’s side for more than three hours. Temperatures plunged as the sun began to set, but she still refused to leave.
“I’m literally shivering; it’s so cold,” she said.
Fortunately, at that point, a friend arrived. And she brought blankets, coats, and pizza in tow.
Then, finally, flashlights shone through the darkness as Clearwater Marine Aquarium staff arrived.
“Help is on the way!” she cheered. “I’m sad to say goodbye, but after three hours, I hope she feels better soon.”
While they wrapped the sea turtle in a blanket, the rescuers promised that it would be well taken care of.
“She’ll be in a warm tank tonight,” one staff member said.
Macciocchi soon learned that the sea turtle she saved was just one of over 30 turtles impacted by a cold snap within a single week.
Fifteen of the turtles recovered quickly and were released on February 10. But the remaining sea turtles needed extra time for rehabilitation — including the one that Macciocchi rescued.
Even after Macciocchi left the beach that night, the sea turtle stayed on her mind. So, she visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to check on her old friend — who turned out to be a boy.
“The biologists say he’s doing well, but they still have to test his foraging skills in deep water to make sure he can be released,” the TikTok user said on February 12.
To track his recovery, the aquarium named him “Ladon” and grouped him with other recently cold-stunned turtles who were all named after Greek mythological figures — like Gaia, Eros, Hermes, Jupiter, and Cyclops.
On March 13, Macciocchi visited the aquarium again.
“He was a very sick little guy, unfortunately,” she explained in a video update. “They said he’s on antibiotics right now because he probably has a high white blood cell count.”
Despite a bout of infection, Ladon was still showing signs of improvement. It was just a matter of waiting for his bloodwork to come back with good results before he could be released.
Over two months later, on May 28, the day finally came for Ladon to return home. He was released alongside Hermes, a tank mate who had washed up in the same February cold snap and arrived with fibropapilloma tumors.
“Both green sea turtles were cleared for release by our veterinarian and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC),” the Clearwater Marine Aquarium said in a Facebook post. “We are thrilled to see these turtles healthy and back home in the wild!”
It was a happy ending for viewers who had been following Ladon’s story since the beginning.
“You saved his life,” one TikTok user wrote beneath the original video. “Thank you.”
“Most people would not have stayed that long or cared,” another commented. “Thank you, Clara.”
“This is probably the first time in history a documented case of a green sea turtle experienced a pizza party on the beach,” someone else joked. “So that’s pretty historic.”
You may also like: See these ‘crusty green’ sea turtles after two months of rehabilitation: ‘The difference is remarkable’
Header images via Clara Macciocchi
