Few people other than the sea turtle staff at the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation knew that Pat Benatar was a frequent visitor to Captiva Island.
Imagine the sadness the rescue team felt when it was called to the shoreline a few weeks ago to find Pat Benatar motionless in the surf zone, clearly not in good shape.
The female loggerhead sea turtle, named after the 1980s rock icon, had washed ashore sometime the previous night, her hind end missing after being hit by a boat.
Pat Benatar, the two-time multi-platinum singer of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and “Love Is A Battlefield,” is alive and well. The 73-year-old is going on tour with Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams in July.
Pat Benatar, the sea turtle, had been microchipped and identified three years ago by a tagging team lead by Savannah Weber, a SCCF sea turtle biologist. The team became fond of the animal after she laid two more clutches that season, and was spotted when she crawled onto the beach a half-dozen times just to turn around and head back into the water.
Sea turtles must surface to breathe
making them vulnerable to
vessel strikes in coastal waters
The marine turtle team names the animals who become familiar to them, each chosen from a group of something. In 2023, the group was famous female singers. The undersized loggerhead was named Pat Benatar because of her small size and spunky attitude.
Sea turtles must surface to breathe, making them vulnerable to vessel strikes in coastal waters.
“Sadly, when we examined the turtle, we discovered she had flipper tags and a microchip,” Weber said. “She was one of our own nesting females . . . a loggerhead we had observed nesting just 15 days earlier.”
Laying eggs was the last thing anyone ever saw the sea turtle named Pat Benatar do on Captiva Island. The SCCF team watched her dig one of her last nests in the sand on May 12.
“As we watched her lay her eggs and make her way back to the ocean, I thought to myself, ‘Bye Pat, I hope to see you again when you come back to lay another nest,’ “ Weber said. “Sadly, the next time I saw her, she had washed ashore deceased, with severe injuries consistent with a vessel strike.”
Although the loggerhead was killed two weeks later, she was able to lay at least one more nest before her passing.
Should the loggerhead’s eggs survive, and the hatchlings dig out and make it into the ocean, Weber said the animal’s legacy will live on through the next generation of sea turtles she helped bring into the world.
The real Pat Benatar and Bryan Adams start their tour on July 24 at The Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
Pat Benatar, the sea turtle, is a reminder of the importance of responsible boating.
“We watch them return year after year, witness their nesting journeys, and celebrate their contributions to future generations,” Weber said. “Losing one is always difficult.”
Pat Benatar, the ‘80s rock icon, did not return messages left with her agency seeking comment.
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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