Orange County

Apollo & Boba Fett: Hearing-impaired dolphin, turtle with spinal injury find new home

ORLANDO, Fla. — A bottlenose dolphin with hearing loss and a green sea turtle with a spinal injury that were both rescued and rehabilitated by SeaWorld, are finding a new home at a Florida aquarium.

SeaWorld officials said Apollo the bottlenose dolphin and Boba Fett the green sea turtle were both determined to be unfit to be returned to the wild due to their chronic health conditions.

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“While our goal is to return 100% of the animals we rescue and rehabilitate to their natural environments, sometimes they have chronic health conditions that make it impossible to survive on their own,” said Jon Peterson, VP of zoological operations at SeaWorld Orlando, and head of the SeaWorld Orlando Rescue Team, in a statement.

READ: Children’s winter summer camps coming to SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

The pair were transferred to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium on Tuesday.

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Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.