Photos courtesy of Aquarium of the Pacific.

Aquarium of the Pacific officials released a green sea turtle into the San Gabriel River in Long Beach today after rehabilitating it during a week-long process that involved removing fishing hooks.

The aquarium was asked to rehabilitate the rescued sea turtle by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) after it was found injured in the San Gabriel River. It was brought to them on Friday, September 29, aquarium officials said today.

Three fishing hooks were removed by a veterinary team from the sea turtle’s skin. They also completed a medical exam on the animal, which appears to be a sub-adult female weighing 71 pounds.

“Based on its exam, it appeared to be in good health with only minor injuries from the fishing hooks,” said Dr. Lance Adams, Aquarium of the Pacific veterinarian, in a statement. “The turtle was eating and swimming normally in its recovery pool and was quickly ready to be released.”

Before releasing it today back into the river where it was originally rescued, NMFS tagged the sea turtle to track its movements for research purposes, officials stated.

“The Aquarium’s Citizen Science Sea Turtle Monitoring program has studied the urban population of sea turtles in the San Gabriel River for the past few years in conjunction with NMFS,” a release stated.

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