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A woman in Georgia is proving that animals are similar to folks.
Kendall Barfield, 12, lately met her adopted juvenile inexperienced sea turtle named Bandit, who presently resides at Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island.
The turtle has been in rehabilitation on the middle because it was concerned in a boat crash in 2021, which injured its spine and left its rear fins paralyzed.
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Barfield and Bandit, it seems, have a comparable story — as a spina bifida analysis at delivery left the tween paralyzed from the ankles down.
Fox News Digital spoke with Kendall Barfield and her mother, Danielle Barfield, of Columbus, Georgia, concerning the second they met Bandit, a feminine turtle.
Bandit might develop to weigh as a lot as 400 kilos and measure as much as 5 toes lengthy, mentioned Kendall Barfield of Georgia (proven above, in turtle T-shirt). (Jekyll Island Authority)
Danielle Barfield first heard Bandit’s story when she and her husband visited Jekyll Island – a barrier island off the coast of Georgia – on a enterprise journey.
“I was just really touched by [the turtle’s] story,” she mentioned. “I felt a connection.”
“It was very close to Christmas [of 2022]. And so I was like, ‘Kendall loves animals. She loves aquariums and sea animals. She would love an adoption, so to speak, of Bandit.’ And so we got Bandit for her for Christmas.”
But Kendall Barfield and Bandit have been solely buddies from afar till the Barfields took the four-hour highway journey to Jekyll Island on Jan. 5, 2024.
The seventh grader mentioned she was “really surprised” by how massive the sea turtle was in individual, though Bandit is most definitely solely in her teenagers.
Kendall Barfield and her mother and father met Bandit, at proper, for the primary time on the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in Jekyll Island on Jan. 5, 2024. (Jekyll Island Authority)
“I just thought it was really cool being up close to a turtle because I’ve always loved marine life,” she mentioned. “And I’ve all the time felt near the ocean. I really like swimming and I really like going to the seashore.”
Kendall Barfield mentioned it was additionally “pretty cool” to have one thing in widespread with the turtle.
“I use crutches, and for long distances, I usually use a wheelchair,” she mentioned. “I can’t feel from … the heels down.”
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The tween mentioned she needs different youngsters to know that though folks with spina bifida may look “different on the outside, they’re the same on the inside.”
Mom Danielle Barfield, who is aware of what it’s wish to take care of a little one with a incapacity, mentioned the turtle’s story resonated closely with her.
“It’s simply superior what God has finished by way of Kendall,” she mentioned, referencing her daughter. “Her smile lights up a room, people see what she has [gone] through, and then it gives them hope for what they can do.”
Bandit wears a “rear end fanny pack” to maintain her backside half buoyant within the water, in line with Jekyll Island Authority’s advertising and marketing communications supervisor. The Barfield household is proven above, watching Bandit. (Jekyll Island Authority)
This was additionally a part of the connection she felt with Bandit, she mentioned, as a result of they “could have easily just put Bandit to sleep.”
“They could have not fought for her to have a life,” she mentioned. “Doctors do that all the time to moms with this kind of diagnosis.”
She added, “They’re told, ‘You have options,’ and that was something that we knew we didn’t have an option for. What if I would have listened to that? Then there wouldn’t be a Kendall.”
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The mother defined that her daughter has a gentle case of the “most severe” kind of spina bifida, which leaves her with out movement from her ankles down, however in some instances it could possibly trigger paralysis greater up on the physique.
“We’re very fortunate,” she mentioned, “that she is able to walk and move around more freely.”
As the mom of a little one with spina bifida, Danielle Barfield (pictured far proper, with her daughter) described being “really touched” by Bandit’s story. (Jekyll Island Authority)
Kendall Barfield added, “My childhood dream was to wiggle my toes. I can’t wiggle my toes.”
Her mother talked about that typically she and her daughter have “We hate spina bifida days.”
But there are nonetheless a “lot of days that we’re grateful for the trail God has put us on.”
In a separate interview with Fox News Digital, Kathryn Hearn, Jekyll Island Authority advertising and marketing communications supervisor, echoed that the Georgia Sea Turtle Center has gone above and past for “charismatic” Bandit.
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“At the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, the mission, and really the greatest passion, is to give every patient the best care and the best chance for a successful release and quality of life,” she mentioned.
Although Bandit might want to discover a everlasting placement as a consequence of her accidents, Bandit continues to be “thriving,” Hearn reported.
Clam Creek and St Simmons Sound are proven in an aerial shot of Jekyll Island, Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group through Getty Images)
“We’re dedicated to just keeping her healthy,” she mentioned. “We wish to be sure that she’s nonetheless doing good, preserving on a wholesome path, preserving on a nutritious diet.”
Hearn added that Bandit’s damage “does not slow her down one bit.”
“She loves to splash,” she mentioned. “[She] loves to see all the people that visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, and it’s really a testament to her resilience that she literally keeps swimming.”
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Hearn mirrored on the “really special” assembly of Kendall Barfield and Bandit, saying the middle is “so appreciative for our adoptive parents [who] symbolically adopt these animals.”
She famous, “We’re creating an environment that is providing education for people and letting them know that things like boat strikes do happen … when sea turtles come up to take a breath.”
An aquarist works with a inexperienced sea turtle on husbandry behaviors throughout a coaching session on the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago on June 8, 2023. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service through Getty Images)
Jekyll Island continues to be a vacation spot for varied kinds of wildlife, because the authority’s conservation and land administration workforce works to guard residents similar to alligators and bald eagles.
“Our teams are consistently researching and tracking and making sure the balance between humans and nature is kept stable,” Hearn mentioned.
Kendall Barfield and her mother mentioned they’re desperate to revisit Jekyll Island and Bandit over the summer season.
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“It’s a really neat place,” Danielle Barfield mentioned. “It was a great experience.”
In the long run, Kendall Barfield mentioned she is desirous about probably pursuing a profession in animal care.
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“I’ve always wanted to work at a pet store, and I have a love for rocks, too,” she mentioned — noting that she would additionally take pleasure in a job finding out rocks.
“Or I could work at the dog shelter,” she added. “I would love that.”
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