Amelie returned to the Atlantic Ocean after rehabilitation at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Florida, where veterinary staff said the rare Kemp’s ridley had been released with a satellite tracking tag to help researchers study how sea turtles survive in the wild after losing a limb.

The center said the release followed a collaboration that uses satellite tracking devices provided through Loggerhead Marinelife and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, with scientists focusing on amputee animals. The work is designed to gather information on dive behavior and migration patterns after turtles go back to sea.

Amelie, described by the center as having lost her right forelimb to a predator — most likely a shark — was taken to the beach for her highly anticipated release on Wednesday. The turtle paused for about 30 seconds and then moved slowly into the Atlantic, as onlookers cheered.

The center said Amelie was brought to the Loggerhead facility by the Inwater Research Group in Port St. Lucie, Florida, about seven weeks earlier after the amputation. At the center, staff said she underwent surgery to clean and close the wound and was treated for pneumonia while in a tank. When veterinarians determined she was healthy enough to return to the ocean, they glued a tracking device to her shell.

Loggerhead Marinelife said the team used ultrasound to check Amelie’s condition and confirmed she is developing eggs, giving researchers another reason to track her movements. The center also said the tracking devices are equipped with a saltwater switch that detects when the turtle comes up to the surface to breathe, triggering transmissions that show the turtle’s location online after a 24-hour delay.

Center president and CEO Andy Dehart said treating Amelie was especially significant because Kemp’s ridley turtles are more typically found on Florida’s Gulf Coast. He described the release as part of a broader effort to learn what amputee turtles can do once they are back in the wild.

Loggerhead research director Sarah Hirsch said Amelie was the fourth amputee sea turtle being tracked by the enter at Loggerhead, referencing earlier satellite-tagged animals that have survived following releases. Hirsch said one of those turtles, a three-limbed sea turtle named Pyari, has traveled nearly 700 miles since her release in January, according to her tracker, and she said the team wants to understand how turtles dive and migrate once they return to the wild.

“We do know that they can be successful in the wild because we have seen them on our nesting beaches, but we really want to understand their dive behaviors, how they’re migrating once they’re back in the wild,” Hirsch said. Hirsch added later that the turtles “have been through a lot,” crediting the medical care they received at the center and describing the release as rewarding because it allows them to return to the population.

The center said details on Amelie and other turtles being tracked for various research projects are available on the Loggerhead website.