Sea turtle release this Friday, June 3rd at 3pm

In partnership with the SC Department of Natural Resources and Charleston County Parks and Recreation, the South Carolina Aquarium will be releasing nine sea turtles back into the ocean on Friday, June 3rd at 3pm. The public is invited to come out to watch eight juvenile green sea turtles and one 200-pound loggerhead be returned to the ocean at Beachwalker County Park on Kiawah Island, SC. Parking space is limited and parking fees apply so we strongly encourage folks to come out to the beach early and to carpool!

Eight of the nine sea turtles being released are green sea turtles that were admitted in December 2010: Charms, Lewbart, Fisher, Cape Lookout, Sandy, Banks and Carteret from NC and Frosty from Hilton, Head, SC. The turtles were cold-stunned, an illness that affects sea turtles when a sudden drop in air temperatures causes coastal water temperatures to drop. This causes sea turtles to get hypothermia and it inhibits their ability to migrate into warm waters. Frosty actually suffered from frostbite and lost the tips of the front flippers. Below are a few photos from the admission of the cold-stunned greens and a more recent picture of several getting sunshine.

The loggerhead, Dawsey, was rescued after stranding on a sandbar at Caper's Inlet. 2 families were instrumental in staying with the wounded turtle until help could arrive. Sarah Dawsey and her crew from the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge got to the turtle just in time as the tide was rising. Dawsey's massive flipper wounds took several months to heal and she has been receiving physical therapy to increase the range of motion where scar tissue is abundant. She has been medically cleared and will make her return to the ocean on Friday! The photo below depicts what we often see Dawsey doing in her tank...looking out of her window at all the happenings in the hospital. Thanks for being such a great patient, Dawsey!

Huge thanks to everyone involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of these animals - there are so many I can't possibly name you all. Hope to see you Friday!

Kelly

A note from Megan, a Sea Turtle Rescue Program Intern

Hello everyone! As you may already know, the Sea Turtle Rescue Program could not run without it's roughly 16 volunteers. Among those volunteers are 2 interns working for college credit and/or experience within their field. I happen to be one of them, and I'd just like to introduce myself and in the future, keep you updated on some of the things that are happening around the Sea Turtle Hospital!

The Sea Turtle Hospital

My name is Megan and I've lived my entire life in Wisconsin, until now. I know, I know, there aren't very many sea turtle strandings in Wisconsin! But upon graduating from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, with a major in Wildlife Education, I was looking for internships to further my career. Thankfully, I crossed paths with the South Carolina Aquarium and the Sea Turtle Rescue Program on the internet. After going through the application and interview process, and moving my entire life in one tiny little car down to Charleston (including my dog), I'm happy to report that it was love at first sight! I had never experienced sea turtles in close proximity before but on my first day working at the South Carolina Aquarium, I was in awe of them thinking what amazing creatures they are and how they need out help to thrive in the world's oceans.

Treating and wrapping the flipper wound on a 190-pound loggerhead, Dawsey.

Intern duties are varied. Most days include food prep and feeding our turtles a varied diet they need to become healthy again. The Sea Turtle Hospital has provided many firsts for the non-seafood-lover that I am...cutting up raw fish, de-tailing shrimp, and feeding live blue crabs to sea turtles (more on this later in another post!). Interns are also responsible for helping with general cleaning of the tanks and the hospital, helping with public tours that are given 5 days a week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 11:30am and 1pm), never ending laundry, and many other random projects that need to be done. However, if there is a stranded turtle, we may come in on our day off to assist with the initial treatments. On the days that we're actually scheduled to work, our afternoons may be filled with treatments for that turtle. These treatments are time consuming but also very rewarding!

Above: Assisting in surgery to remove a stingray barb from the neck of an endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle.

Above: Giving physical therapy to a green sea turtle, Ripley, that is suffering from partial paralysis due to a boat strike very close to the spinal cord.

That is all for now, but please check back for updates on some of the exciting things happening around the hospital - like the different forms of enrichment for both our sea turtles and our "honorary turtles" that have taken up temporary residence in the hospital.

Megan Walsh
Sea Turtle Rescue Program Intern

Dawsey's flipper much improved

Dawsey is feeling better and making quite a splash with those that meet her! This is quite a change from the lethargic state in which she was found on September 6th. At the time, the infected flipper wounds were decaying, there was exposed bone and she was likely suffering from septecemia. Once admitted into the Sea Turtle Hopspital, Dawsey was often placed on the gurney (pictured below) or on a large tire for treatment so we could effectively treat wound on the ventral side of the flipper.

In the 45 days that she been recieving medical treatment, the wounds are healing beautifully. Below are dated photographs that allow you to see the changes in this dorsal flipper wound.
Below is a photo of the ventral wound, just to give you an idea of what we are dealing with. There is a deep pocket under the skin that is not visible here.

We are thrilled with the speed at which Dawsey is healing. She is off all medications and is recieving a healthy diet to include live blue crabs. She still has very limited use of the injured flipper so physical therapy has been initiated. Range of motion in the flipper has increased as a result of this therapy and it will continue until we see normal flipper movement.

We'll keep you posted on her progress!
Kelly

190-pound loggerhead admitted into South Carolina Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital

We had just returned from 6 hours of nest inventory work on Cape Island Monday when an unusual stranding call came in. Good friends enjoying the Labor Day holiday were boating around Capers Inlet and had come across a large loggerhead sea turtle with an injured flipper stranded on the sandbar at low tide. After a short discussion, we all realized that time was of the essence if we wanted to rescue the wounded loggerhead because the tide was turning. The Smiths, no strangers to sea turtles, said they would stay with the turtle until help arrived.

The Smith Family with the injured 190-pound loggerhead.

Sarah Dawsey has led the USFWS Cape Romain Sea Turtle Project for many years and not only was she working on Labor Day but it was her birthday as well. Sarah, Jerry Tupacz, Arturo Herrera from SCDNR and I put the boat back in the water in response to the stranding call. By the time we made it over to Capers Inlet, the sandbars were diminishing under the rising tide and the turtle (all 190 pounds of her) had swam off. The Smith’s were doing their best to keep an eye on her and when we arrived, were able to point us in the direction of the turtle in last tide pool just before the ocean. It would only have been minutes before the turtle made her way over the last bit of sandbar to freedom, and most likely, death.

Sarah Dawsey, Arturo Herrera, Mark Smith and Jerry Tupacz getting turtle to boat.

After the boat rescue, the turtle was loaded into the SCDNR truck and transported to the Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital where treatment began. She had two large open wounds on the front left flipper that were terribly infected and was suffering from septicemia. The turtle hardly used the hurt limb. Treatment included 2 antibiotics, subcutaneous fluids, pain medications and wound treatment. Blood was taken for analysis and the loggerhead was left in a shallow pool of water for the night.

Huge thanks goes out to Mark, Shannon, Audrey and Johnny Otis Smith for their willingness to stay with the injured sea turtle for 2 hours until its rescue. Also to Sarah Dawsey and Jerry Tupacz of USFWS for extending their work day (especially on Sarah’s birthday) and reacting so quickly to launch the boat. Lastly, huge thanks to Arturo Herrera from SCDNR for staying for 2 additional hours to help maneuver this huge animal around the Sea Turtle Hospital – I couldn’t have done it without him!

In celebration of Sarah’s many achievements in sea turtle conservation, her unwavering determination to save yet another turtle and simply as a birthday gift, the turtle has been affectionately named Dawsey. You will be able to find future updates for Dawsey on the main hospital webpage.
Kelly