A federally-protected loggerhead sea turtle that recovered from a serious illegal spearfishing wound was released Wednesday morning by Turtle Hospital officials in the Florida Keys.

About two months ago, a father and son were fishing off the Lower Keys when they saw the turtle struggling to come up for air with a 4-foot metal spear sticking out of its head. Director of the Marathon-based Turtle Hospital Richie Moretti said she was lucky in many ways, “She was lucky that she found people that would rescue her and we went ahead and took the spear all the way out.”

“It couldn’t have gone through in a better spot. It missed the back of her eye and the front of her throat and so it’s taken us now about six weeks. She’s finally up to eating. And when you see a turtle that works so hard to live – remember these are all dinosaurs – and that makes you feel really good when you have a turtle that’s one leg out of the world and you can bring ‘em back,” said Moretti.

An investigation is ongoing to find who speared the turtle. The Keys community has raised more than16,000 dollars in reward money. The release marked the 25th anniversary of one of the few, if not only, state-licensed veterinary hospitals in the world dedicated solely to the treatment of sea turtles.