With the eastern coast of the US experiencing one of the largest cold-stunning events in history, the South Carolina Aquarium's Sea Turtle Rescue Program has admitted 18 cold stunned sea turtles since December to help. In addition to the ten endangered sea turtles flown in by private pilot on December 5th from New England, 8 additional sea turtles that originally cold stunned North Carolina and New England were recently admitted.
North Carolina Cold Stun Admissions
On Thursday, January 10th, South Carolina Aquarium staff met Sarah Finn from the NC Wildlife Commission at the NC/SC border to transfer three juvenile loggerheads that had recently cold stunned in NC.
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| Sarah carries a bin with one of the loggerhead sea turtles to the Aquarium's husbandry van. |
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| Each turtle was transferred to a new transport container. |
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| The loggerheads travel in separate containers with padding. It is not necessary to transport them in water since they are air breathers. |
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| Manteo immediately crawled to the corner of the bin but then stayed quiet for the rest of the ride. |
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| Kit stays calm during the medical evaluation. |
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| The turtles receive full physical examinations. |
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| Buxton goes into the holding pool in the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital. |
New England Cold-Stun Admissions
On Monday, January 14th, five additional sea turtles were flown in by private pilot Michael Taylor from the Boston, MA area. The loggerhead and 4 Kemp's ridleys had been receiving treatment at the
New England Aquarium's Animal Care Center.
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| The plane coming in for the landing at Atlantic Aviation in Charleston, SC. |
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| The Piper Cheyenne 400 twin turboprop - a beautiful plane! |
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| Owner and pilot, Michael Taylor lifts the juvenile loggerhead out of the cargo space... |
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| ...and hands it over to Kelly Thorvalson. What a gorgeous sea turtle! |
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| Atlantic Aviation staff helps offload the boxes of Kemp's ridley sea turtles. |
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| A close up photo of the loggerhead that has been named "Taylor" after the pilot. The purple band on the left flipper helped to identify the turtle during its stay at the New England Aquarium's Animal Care Center where many loggerheads are being treated. |
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| The turtles get loaded into the Aquarium's husbandry van to be transported to the Sea Turtle Hospital. |
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| Sea Turtle Biologist Christi Hughes and intern Joni Vaughn help to move the animals into the hospital. |
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| The numbers on the sea turtles are for identification purposes at the New England Aquarium. With so many sea turtles in the tanks, these numbers kept staff organized with patient medications, medical procedures and feeding. |
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| Weights and measurements were taken and the turtles received full physical examinations. |
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| They were then put into their respective holding tanks. |
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| The Post and Courier and AP media were there to document the admission. |
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| A Kemp's ridley with a healing neck lesion. |
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| A Kemp's ridley with loss of keratin on the front of its face. |
A huge THANK YOU to Michael Taylor for his generous donation of time and flight to get these animals safely to Charleston to finish treatment. Also to the hundreds of volunteers and donors that are instrumental in the rescue, transport, rehabilitation, and ultimate release of these sea turtles.
With 25 sea turtles currently in treatment at the South Carolina Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital, it is a great time to visit! Learn more about the
behind-the-scenes tours and visit them online by visiting the
hospital webpage.
Warmest wishes,
Kelly Thorvalson
