Critically Ill Loggerhead, Atalaya, Hangs on to Life

The third sea turtle admitted into the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital in July is Atalaya, a sub-adult loggerhead that stranded at Huntington Beach State Park. This poor turtle is extremely debilitated, suffering from severe emaciation, dehydration, and critically low blood levels including no blood glucose and a 5% hematocrit (% red blood cells...normal is 30-40%). We are tremendously grateful for the generous donation from Loggerhead Apparel of the funds to buy a new i-STAT blood machine. Getting a thorough blood analysis when the turtles first arrive is critical to successful treatment!

Triage took place in the  Aquarium's Animal Medical Facility and included fluid therapy (IV 50%dextrose and hetastarch, SQ 5% dextrose and sodium chloride), antibiotic injections (ceftazadime and danofloxacin), and vitamin injections (B-Complex, C and K). The turtle was then dry docked in the Sea Turtle Hospital with an overnight drip of Normosol fluids. Dry docking an animal in this condition is important because they could drown in water that covers their nares (nostrils).

Jeff McClary, head of SCUTE, helped to get the turtle from Huntington to Georgetown and SCDNR transported the rest of the way to find Sea Turtle Rescue staff awaiting their arrival.

The emaciated loggerhead hardly moved during the admission process. The heavy barnacle load is an indication that the turtle has been lethargic in the ocean. 

Marine leeches were removed from the corners of the mouth. Notice how sunken the eyes are...a sign of dehydration and lack of muscles and fat behind the eyes.

Dr. Boylan gives fluids IV in the dorsal sinus.

After 2.5 hours of treatment, the turtle was moved into the ICU tank in the Sea Turtle Hospital.

After 2 nights of dry dock, Atalaya is now swimming in shallow water. She isn't eating yet and we plan to tube feed a gruel with fish and vitamins to get some nutrition on board.   

Huge thanks to all involved in Atalaya's rescue! To David LaManna from NY who found the turtle and made the calls to get her rescued; Chris Bowers, beach ranger from Huntington for responding to the stranding; Jeff McClary, fearless leader of SCUTE for transporting Atalaya from Huntington to the Sewee Outpost in Awendaw and who is always willing to drive sick and injured sea turtles to get help; Bill Brabson for volunteering to ride with Jeff for assistance; and Amy Gutierrez from SCDNR for transporting the remainder of the trip. With patients in critical condition, it takes a great deal of support to get them here as soon as possible for treatment. Also, a huge thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers that come in on a moment's notice on evenings, weekends and holidays to help save these turtles. Atalaya's prognosis is still guarded but we are thrilled that she is still with us today!

Kelly Thorvalson

Sea Turtle Rescue Program Manager

SCUTE volunteers donate medical equipment

It all started with a young boy named Timmy Mitten from Virginia. Timmy's family was on vacation in Garden City and one evening, Timmy helped the SCUTE (South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts) nest protection volunteers by keeping a close eye on the rising tide. He wanted to be sure it didn't interfere with the hatchlings making their way out of the nest. A little later, Timmy gave the team $1 to help sea turtles. He could have spent his money on candy or gum, or maybe a video game in the arcade, but all that was on Timmy's mind was helping the turtles. And that he did.

That dollar donation prompted the Garden City turtle team to find out if there were any medical needs in the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital with which they could fund. That dollar turned into about $1,500 that has provided a new gurney (stretcher) and IV poles for the Sea Turtle Rescue Program!

Sue Harbemeyer spearheaded the time-consuming project to find a gurney that would accommodate sea turtles large and small, as they are transported from the basement hospital facility to the 1st floor medical clinic for x-rays and surgeries. The IV poles were ordered by Terry Senior and used during surgery only days after their arrival.

The photo below is of the gurney that we have used for approximately 4 years. Ripped and rusted, it has certainly seen it's better days!

And the new one from the SCUTE team...they sent an extra mattress, too!

The first use of the gurney was to force feed Yawkey (and it was successful).

We would like to extend a huge thanks to Sue and Hans Harbermeyer, Terry Senior, Linda and Dan Williams, Mari Armstrong, Franc Coker and of course, Timmy Mitten, for the much needed contributions to the Sea Turtle Rescue Program!

Sincerely,
Kelly Thorvalson

Endangered sea turtle rescued by 9-year old in Pawley's Island

A call came in to the head of the SCUTE turtle team, Jeff McClary, on Sunday morning. A very small, live sea turtle was found washed up on Pawley’s Island but someone put it back into the water thinking that was the right thing to do. Knowing that if the turtle stranded on the beach it was sick or injured and once back in the water it may never be seen again, Jeff put out an all points bulletin to the SCUTE coordinators. The Schneider’s {Pawley’s and S. Litchfield} and Betsy Brabson {DeBordieu} sent out an email to the other Turtle Enthusiasts. In the late afternoon, the Graysons spotted something bobbing in the surf and Wilson Grayson, 9 years old, waded into the water to check it out. What he found was a very sick juvenile green sea turtle in need of medical attention. Jeff was notified, collected the turtle and headed South as Kelly Sloan of the SC Department of Natural Resources headed North to make the transfer in McClellanville. It was only a matter of time that the little green named Pawley after it’s stranding location, was admitted into the South Carolina Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital.

Here is Dr. Boylan’s description of the turtle on the night of its arrival:
The animal is mildly anemic, moderately hypoglycemic, severely hypoproteinemic, and severely bradycardic (very low heart rate). We tapped about 180 cc of gas from the coelom (body cavity). Radiographs were clear of any fishing hooks or detectable foreign bodies. The animal reacted with pain responses to injections which correlates with a presumptive diagnosis of gas productive coelomic sepsis. An old puncture wound was found at the marginal scutes. The nearby inframarginal scutes showed some signs of internal pathology by palpation and examination. This is the likely source of the infection (puncture wound). Antibiotics, vitamins, x-rays, fluids with dextrose, ultrasounds, and in house bloodwork were conducted tonight. The prognosis is guarded given sepsis is very likely and acute in onset. The body condition and hydration status were relatively normal.

With each passing day, the chances of survival for little Pawley are better. It is now 4 days into treatment and Pawley is active and even ate a little fish on Wednesday and Thursday. In addition to continuing supportive care including fluids, vitamins and antibiotics, hospital staff is regularly bleeding coelomic air that is being produced by the internal bacterial infection. Be sure to check back to the hospital page to get regular updates on Pawley as well as the other patients in our care!

Thank you to everyone involved with this animal’s rescue, especially to Wilson Grayson and his family. Green sea turtles are listed as federally endangered under the Endangered Species Act and need our help. And remember, if you find a sick or injured sea turtle, contact the local police department or call the SC Department of Natural Resources hotline at 1-800-922-5431.

Kelly

New patient admitted into Sea Turtle Hospital

A call came in on Monday, August 24th from Arturo with the SC Department of Natural Resources - he was on his way to pick up a stranded turtle from North Myrtle Beach, SC. The estimated time of arrival was 7pm. It would be another late night at the Aquarium...

The turtle that stranded was an 80-pound loggerhead (still a juvenile) whose shell was covered in barnacles and hundreds of tube worms whose homes made of mud, were caked inches thick on the shell. Unlike most debilitated sea turtles that arrive at our facility, this one was actually moving around quite a bit. In addition to checking overall body condition and respirations, blood was taken for an in-house snapshot of the animal's health and to ship off for complete blood counts and chemistries. That in house blood analysis told us that "Scute", the new loggerhead, is very anemic and has a very low blood protein. The good news is that it actually has a decent blood glucose level which is why the turtle was more active than most in this state.

You can see the degree of emaciation by the outline of bones and tendons in the neck area. The "sore" on top of the skull is from a rope that was entangled around the turtle's neck when it was found in the surf. This entanglement may be the root cause of the turtles poor condition. Supportive care was given to include fluid therapy with Vitamin B, an iron injection to combat anemia, IV hetastarch fluids to help the protein levels in the blood, and of course, antibiotic injections. Since it was 10:30pm when we finished treatment and we could not monitor the turtle overnight, Dr. Boylan and I decided to leave her in a very shallow pool of freshwater. This would allow her to breathe without having to swim to the surface.

Although Scute is extremely sick, we are hopeful that she will improve with continued supportive care. Keep up with Scute's progress (as well as the other patients in the Sea Turtle Hospital) on the main hospital webpage.

Thank you to all involved in the rescue of Scute and for Arturo from SCDNR for the long hours on the road to get her safely to our hospital. It takes all of us to save the lives of these animals!

P.S. For those of you who aren't aware of our naming system, we name the patients after where they strand whether it is a beach or waterway. Currently we are treating a Myrtle and a North Myrtle. To avoid giving the same names to turtles, we look for other names that have something to do with the area in which the turtle strands. SCUTE stands for South Carolina United Turtle Enthusiasts and is comprised of sea turtle volunteers from Georgetown to North Myrtle Beach. This stranding got the name Scute so we wouldn't have to name it North Myrtle Jr as well as to honor all of the SCUTE volunteers that support sea turtle conservation and the Sea Turtle Rescue Program.

Kelly