Seven sea turtles being released this Saturday!

Seven sea turtles will be released this Saturday, May 7th at the Isle of Palms County Park at 5pm. County Park parking fees will apply and parking is limited. We highly encourage you to carpool, even if from somewhere on the island or in Mt. Pleasant, and to come out extra early to avoid traffic.
Meet the sea turtles being released (captions follow each comparison photo):

Ripley


The little green sea turtle, Ripley, was the victim of a boat strike. After months of wound treatment and antibiotics, Ripley has recovered and is ready to rejoin the sea turtle population!

St. Catherine

St. Catherine was caught on a SCDNR research vessel and had an unfortunate run-in with a stingray. The stingray barb broke off in the tissue between the shoulder and neck and had to be surgically removed. St. Catherine is all better and ready to go to her ocean home!

Hyde

Hyde is a juvenile Kemp's ridley sea turtle that was part of cold stunning event off the NC coast in December. Over 100 sea turtles stranded as part of this event. Hyde really likes to sleep with his head in the PVC tube!

Guardian

Guardian is also a Kemp's ridley from the 2010 NC cold stunning event and can often be seen spashing around in her tank, quite different than the lethargic turtle she was at admission.

Hilton


Hilton, a loggerhead sea turtle, washed up last summer on Hilton Head debilitated and covered in barnacles. Hilton has made a great recovery and is one spunky turtle!
Palmer

Palmer, the loggerhead from the Isle of Palms, is one of the most serverely emaciated and anemic sea turtles we have ever treated. 25 pounds heavier and robust, this turtle is ready for the wild!

Pirate

Pirate stranded on Myrtle Beach in front of Pirate Land Campground and was found to be suffering from lockjaw. After 8 months of tube feeding and doing physical therapy on the jaws, he could open his mouth just enough to fit in small peices of fish. Over the next year, he made great progress and is now able to feed on large, live blue crabs. After almost 2 years in our care, this animal is finally ready for release!
We are so excited to be sending these animals home after their remarkable recoveries. Thanks to the SC Department of Natural Resources and all involved in the rescue, rehabilitation and release of these animals!
-Kelly

New stranding admitted to Sea Turtle Hospital

The Sea Turtle Rescue Program is off to a very busy 2011 stranding season! On Thursday, April 28, a juvenile green sea turtle weighing a little over 8 pounds was found stranded on Kiawah Island, SC. This is the third sea turtle to be admitted to the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital in just three weeks bringing the total patient load to 22 - a new record.

The turtle is named Eugenia after one of the oldest roads on Kiawah, Eugenia Avenue, which also runs parallel to the area on the beach where the turtle stranded. The road was named after Eugenia Royal, the wife of CC Royal who bought the island from the Vanderhorst Family in 1950 for logging purposes. A portion of the road is still unpaved and boasts many of the original homes on the island.

After being weighed, measured, and scanned for tags, Eugenia was treated with fluids and antibiotics. She was put in a shallow tank for two days and has just been given a deeper tank in which to swim. Prognosis for this animal is good. Check the Sea Turtle Hospital webpage for updates on Eugenia's progress.

Thanks to everyone involved in this rescue!!

Kelly Thorvalson

New loggerhead stranding from IOP still hanging on

On Monday morning, the South Carolina Aquarium received its second stranding of the 2011 season - a severely debilitated loggerhead with a barnacle load greater than ever seen in the facility. The turtle's lethargic state (it was most likely floating in the ocean for quite some time) is what causes the heavy barnacle load.

The loggerhead named Jammer, washed up near the fishing pier on front beach Isle of Palms, SC, just blocks from the popular Windjammer beach club that s/he is named after. This iconic venue has been a local favorite for decades, operating on the island since 1972...even before sea turtles were put on the endangered species list. SCDNR responded to the live stranding and Island Turtle Team members Mary Pringle and Bev Ballow, pulled the turtle from the surf to the safety of the DNR transport vehicle.Upon arrival at the Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital, weights and measurements were taken and diagnostic tests were performed. The heart rate of a healthy sea turtle is ~30 beats per minute (bpm) but this turtle's heart rate was only 7 bpm, a condition called bradycardia. The turtle is also severely emaciated and dehydrated. As expected, the turtle had very low blood glucose and blood protein levels but the hematocrit (percentage of red blood cells in the blood) was actually close to normal. Sea turtles in this debilitated state are usually severely anemic with a very low hematocrit level, so although puzzled by the result, hospital staff was thrilled to get it.
Treatments include oxygen, fluid therapy, vitamins, and antibiotic injections. After 24 hours of treatment, the turtles heart rate had risen to 24 bpm and respirations were stronger. The prognosis is guarded on this animal but we are doing all we possibly can to save it!

Huge thanks to all involved in this rescue!
Kelly

First live stranding of 2011

At 1.8 kg (4 pounds), the juvenile Kemp's ridley admitted Friday evening is the 2nd smallest sea turtle ever treated by the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Rescue Program. The call about the stranding came from the SCDNR while Veterinarian, Dr. Boylan, and I were attending the International Sea Turtle Conference. Luckily, Aquarium Sea Turtle Biologist, Christi Hughes and hospital intern, Meghan Walsh were on hand to take care of this little guy.

A little turtle with a big name
The turtle is being named after the Folly Beach fishing pier where it was caught: Edwin S. Taylor. It is a big name for a little turtle but Kemp's ridleys are known for their big personalities, so we are pretty sure he will grow into it. Although the fisherman was able to remove the hook before it was swallowed, the turtle is suffering from dehydration and skin lesions. Medical treatments include antibiotics, fluid therapy and external treatment of lesions.

This new stranding brings the Aquarium's sea turtle patient load to 20, the most ever treated at once. But coastal waters are quickly warming and the Sea Turtle Rescue Team is looking forward to releasing many of the rehabilitated patients over the next month or so. Releases are temperature dependant so the dates are not determined yet. Keep checking back to the blog if you are interested in finding out more about these releases.

Thanks to all involved in the rescue of this animal!
Kelly Thorvalson

Earth Fare donates organic produce to feed endangered green sea turtles!

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

Little Debbie being released in Florida on Thursday!

On May 22, 2009, a critically endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle was found on DeBordieu Beach in Georgetown County, SC. The turtle was very thin and barely hanging on to life. Upon arrival at the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital, “Little Debbie” was diagnosed with severe pneumonia and a broken humerus in her front left flipper. It took over a month of nebulizers, antibiotic injections and supportive care for hospital staff to be confident she would survive, although treatments lasted for much longer.

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.

To all of our donors, Stranded Turtle Adoptive Parents, visitors, partners, and volunteers – thank you so much for all you do to make these successes possible! Kelly Thorvalson

Hanahan Middle School saves sea turtles

Hanahan Middle School (HMS) has won the South East Regionals of the Lexus Eco Challenge for the second consecutive year and has been invited to participate in the final round competing against 15 other schools nationwide for $30,000. Team members include 8th graders Sarah Chandler, Robby Cooper, Amber Dove, Kileigh Joseph, Erika MacGregor, Jonelle Miller, Savannah Moore, Pe'ton Wright and are led by 7th grade science teacher Alexandra Davis.

For the final round, the HMS team is focusing on saving sea turtles, specifically South Carolina's state reptile, the loggerhead sea turtle. This threatened species nests on our beaches each summer. Over the years, their populations have declined due to manmade pressures including coastal development and litter. In order to help save sea turtles, the team hopes to spread this message though various projects.

HMS was challenged to bring in plastic grocery bags to recycle instead of sending to the landfill. They rose to that challenge and brought in a total of 12,700 bags! To replace these bags, reusable bags were sold to raise money for SEWEE. With over 100 sold so far, you can still purchase a turtle bag for only $2.

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".

The team's favorite part of the project was visiting the South Carolina Aquarium where they learned how to diagnose sick and injured sea turtles in a classroom laboratory and visited the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital to watch the 19 patients being fed. They also raised funds to become Stranded Turtle Adoptive Parents to current turtle patients and collected various wish list items to donate to the hospital.

If you would like to learn more about the team's efforts and see their interviews with local scientists, visit them on Facebook http://on.fb.me/gofSsP and YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/ecochallenge2011.

Together we can make a difference.

Alexandra Davis
7th Grade Science
Hanahan Middle School