ST. LOUIS – A tsunami has arrived in St. Louis. Not a giant wave, but a rescued sea turtle name Tsunami.
Tsunami arrived by plane Tuesday afternoon at St. Louis-Lambert International Airport and was taken to his new home at the St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station.
After a half-hour car ride to the aquarium downtown, he showed a lot of energy as was he put into a holding tank.
“We put him in the tank and it looks like he’s doing really well,” said Aaron Sprowl, general curator at the St. Louis Aquarium. “Doing what a typical sea turtle will do. Basically destroying the tank already!”
The sea turtle left the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island this morning. The nonprofit Turtles Fly Too helped with the flight. The group provides private pilots to fly rescued turtles to their new homes.
Tsunami had three years of medical care at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center following a boat strike. He arrived at the center on July 18, 2017, with injuries to the left side of the head behind the eye and part of his jaw all the way to his left front flipper.
He will live in the Shark Canyon habitat at St. Louis Aquarium. The professional animal care team will be able to continue his jaw therapy as needed.
Tsunami is estimated to be between 15 and 20 years old and could grow to about 500 pounds.
Tsunami will spend a few days in a thousand-gallon holding tank before being moved into the 250,000-gallon main tank by the end of the week for display to the general public.
