Since the admission of eight new cold-stunned juvenile green sea turtles last December, we’ve been researching the nutritional value of various produce items in an effort to provide these turtles with foods that best resemble the omnivorous diet they would be consuming at this age in the wild. We began supplementing their daily fish diet with veggies such as romaine lettuce, bell peppers, and kale. The greens happily munched the veggies from newly designed PVC feeders that allowed them to feed off the bottom of their tank in the same way they would graze from a seagrass bed in the wild. Unfortunately, feeding this new produce-based diet to ten turtles on a daily basis was financially straining our resources. We decided to contact John Messinger, Manager at Earth Fare, a local health food supermarket in the West Ashley Windermere Shopping Center known for its selection of local and organic farm fresh fruits and vegetables. John had previously visited our Sea Turtle Hospital and was excited about supporting our efforts to rehabilitate endangered green sea turtles. Earth Fare is now providing us with a weekly donation of produce for our turtles! In addition to staples like romaine lettuce, our greens are now grazing on delicious dandelion greens, cabbage, gold beet leaves, and brussel sprouts on the stalk as seen on the photo below. 
On behalf of the South Carolina Aquarium and our ten green sea turtles, we’d like to thank John, Matt Setter and Linda Helms from the produce department, as well as the rest of the Earth Fare crew for all their efforts to help us keep our sea turtles as healthy as possible while undergoing rehabilitation in our Sea Turtle Hospital. Be sure to check Earth Fare out online at http://www.earthfare.com/ and enjoy the video below! Christi Hughes, Sea Turtle Biologist
After twenty-three months and a tremendous amount of medical support and care, Little Debbie is being released back into the ocean on Thursday. Without a doubt, she has left a lasting impression on those that have come in close contact with her. She will likely be remembered most for her spunky attitude, often splashing those that get near her tank, and because she is the most fun to watch chase and catch live blue crabs of any sea turtle ever treated in our program!
Many ask if Little Debbie will be o.k. in the wild after being in captive care for almost 2 years. I can say "yes" with confidence for several reasons: Sea turtles are remarkably instinctive and don't imprint like birds or mammals. They are benefitted by their small brains in this fact. Their instincts drive their behavior and you can't take this instinct away in 2 years. I always like to tell folks that our patients “will bite the hands that feed them.” Little Debbie is spunky, quick, and honestly, could care less about us. We are ok with this because our entire goal is to heal them and to get them back into the ocean to rejoin the wild population, in hopes that they will contribute reproductively to that population. 
Little Debbie will be picked up very early Thursday morning to be transported to Cape Canaveral, Florida for release. If you’d like to see her one last time, you can visit on one of the Wednesday Sea Turtle Hospital tours, 11:30am or 1pm. 
The Eco Challenge Team visited Hanahan City Council to promote the ban of mass balloon releases in SC by presenting a petition of over 80 community signatures. Letters were also sent to local representatives in support of the bill currently on the House floor. Eco Challenge and Jr. Beta teamed up with Clean City Sweep and cleaned up Brittlebank Park. Being a marsh front park, it is important to pick up the litter before it reaches the oceans. We collected 34 bags of trash, 4 tires, 2 large pieces of dock, and several other interesting items. The team is currently painting a trash can which will be placed in the park promoting the message "Keep it clean as can be, for the turtles of the sea".
If you would like to learn more about the team's efforts and see their interviews with local scientists, visit them on Facebook 
The girls created and illustrated an educational booklet titled “How to Save a Sea Turtle.” This full-color booklet contains simple messages about what people can do to help sea turtles. 
Finally, the Troop created and brought along “Symphony,” a life-size paper-mâché nesting sea turtle. Symphony joined us for our group picture on the Aquarium’s harbor deck, and we are hoping to incorporate this local work of art into our hospital for tour guests to see and appreciate.
Joy Gay, Matilda Seay, Amaya Clark, Breanna Wilson, Jessica Leiker, Kendra Ruggiero, Sierra Mancine, Emma Lang, Sutton Allen, and Troop 807 leaders Christine and Katie: Thank you for all you’ve done to help sea turtles!
