Cathedral Academy kids arrive with get well cards and gifts

For a few minutes on Friday morning, it felt like a normal hospital where visitors bring cards and flowers to make ailing loved ones feel better. But this time, the cards and gifts were for the sick and injured sea turtles at the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Rescue Program.

Cathedral Academy students, parents and teachers, visited the Sea Turtle Hospital armed with beautiful, homemade, get well cards and much needed hospital supplies such as trash bags, sponges and dish soap.

It was obvious that a great deal of time, effort and love went into each and every card. The covers were sparkling and creative, and inside contained personal messages and poems to the patients. Each child was thrilled to meet the turtle whose card he or she had worked so hard to create. It was a wonderful tour with kids very excited about helping sea turtles.

Thank you, Cathedral Academy!

Kelly Thorvalson

Huge thanks to Kiawah Island Community Association for 4WD truck donation!

The Kiawah Island Community Association (KICA) pulled through once again! Kelly Bragg and Shannon White from KICA, arrived at the South Carolina Aquarium on Friday to donate a 4WD Toyota Tacoma truck. This is the second truck to be retired from KICA and donated to the Aquarium in less than a year! Although this particular truck will be useful in many situations for the Aquarium, it will be primarily used by the Sea Turtle Rescue Program for educational outreach and to drive rehabilitated sea turtles onto local beaches for release.

Above: A nice, new ride for our rehabilitated sea turtles!

Above, left to right: SC Aquarium CEO, Kevin Mills; KICA Board of Directors Chair, Kelly Bragg; STRP Manager, Kelly Thorvalson

The first truck donated by KICA, a 4-cylinder Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, was delivered in the summer of 2010. That donation came right on the heels of two ~10-year old Aquarium owned vehicles breaking down to the point of no return (after we eeked every mile possible out of them), so the gift could not have been better timing.

Thank you Kelly, Shannon and the entire Kiawah Island Community Association - we are forever grateful!

Kelly Thorvalson
Sea Turtle Rescue Program Manager

Wednesday is your last chance to visit hatchlings!

We have just learned that the green sea turtle hatchlings will be leaving very early Thursday morning to be released in Florida by the SC Department of Natural Resources. If you would live to visit them before they go, tomorrow is your last chance! Get up close to 19 sea turtle patients as well as 38 hatchlings by taking a behind-the-scenes tour of the South Carolina Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital at 11:30am or 1pm. There is a small fee in addition to Aquarium admission.

For a full schedule of tour days and times, visit the Sea Turtle Rescue Program webpage at http://www.scaquarium.org/STR/default.html.

Hope to see you there!
Kelly Thorvalson

Support the Ban of Mass Balloon Releases in SC

What goes up must come down...we’re talking about helium filled balloons. Thousands end up in our waterways and the ocean. They can be deadly to marine animals and birds that mistake them for food or become entangled in the ribbons. Mass balloon releases have been banned in at least seven states nationwide, multiple cities, and in other areas around the world, but South Carolina still allows them. Even though many balloons are made of biodegradable latex, they take months to degrade and wild animals ingest them prior to that time. According to the Marine Conservation Society, dolphins, whales, seabirds and turtles have died from balloons.

That’s why students at Belton Elementary School in Belton, South Carolina, wrote to state lawmakers asking for a ban on massive balloon releases. These students understand that it is vital to keep litter out of our beautiful state and to ensure the survival of wildlife, including threatened and endangered sea turtles. A bill to ban mass balloon releases in SC will be voted on soon and we are asking you to support this ban by writing your state representative. This bill can only get passed if it has your support!

A letter to you from Belton Elementary students: www.bit.ly/jrwildlifeprotectors.

You must have your 9-digit zip code to find your state representative. You can get that at http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp. With your 9-digit zip code, you can find you’re your state representative at http://www.scstatehouse.gov/cgi-bin/zipcodesearch.exe. Whether you use wording from the student’s letter, the above e-mail or use your own words, tell your state representative that mass balloon releases should be banned in SC!

Find out more about how balloons harm animals at these links:
http://www.longwood.edu/cleanva/balloons.htm
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/balloon-releases827.html#cr
http://www.ukrivers.net/upupandaway.html

Thank you for keeping South Carolina beautiful!

Kelly Thorvalson, Sea Turtle Rescue Program Manager
Kate Dittloff, Public Relations Manager
South Carolina Aquarium

19 patients being treated by Sea Turtle Rescue Program

Caring for 19 sea turtle patients and many green sea turtle hatchlings has left virtually no time to keep the blog updated! Luckily, much of this busy time for the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Rescue Program has been documented on YouTube, the Aquarium's Facebook Page, by the media, and on Barb Bergwerf's website. Below are several links that we encourage you to visit to learn all that has been going on in the last month!

Two late green sea turtle nests from Garden City were incubated indoors by the SC Department of Natural Resources so they wouldn't perish when cold weather set in. In early December, the first "round" of hatchlings (56) were cared for in our Sea Turtle Hospital. Read about their release at http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/12/19/1876943/garden-citys-baby-turtles-go-out.html. The second round of hatchlings (38) currently being cared for are awaiting cooperative weather for an offshore release.

The little Kemp's ridley, May, that was injured by a boat propeller (photo below on right was just after admitted) in May 2010 was released in early December to make room for cold-stunned turtles. May was joined by two rehabilitated VA sea turtles (photo below on left) and one GA sea turtle for a multi-facility release. Read all about it in the Post and Courier:
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/dec/10/a-foamy-farewell-in-florida/

Kate Dittloff, the Aquarium's Public Relations Manager, put together a great video of the arrival of the 14 cold-stunned sea turtles from NC on December 13 and a couple of photos are below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71qmga0mgi8

An article ran in the Wall Street Journal online on December 15, just two days after the sea turtles arrived from NC: http://online.wsj.com/article/AP2dc89b855ccb41e49e183e2692c682f5.html

National Geographic blogged the arrival and treatment of the cold-stunned sea turtles. See this blog here: http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/12/cold-sea-puts-stunned-turtles.html

Just after the Aquarium admitted more turtles than ever before, a local cold-stunned sea turtle arrived at the South Carolina Aquarium on December 16: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/dec/16/cold-stunned-turtle-in-sc-a-surprise/. The first two photos are of Frosty being admitted and the second two are of the progression of the frostbite on the left front flipper.

And an update on January 11, 2011 from the Post and Courier: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jan/05/on-the-mend/

You can always keep up with the Sea Turtle Rescue Program on long time volunteer and photographer, Barbara Bergwerf's website at http://www.bergwerfgraphics.com/

If ever there is a time to visit the South Carolina Aquarium and Sea Turtle Hospital, it would be now! The hatchlings and a few of the cold stunned turtles are going to be released in the next few weeks. All tour information is on the Aquarium's website.

Huge thanks to SC Department of Natural Resources staff and everyone else involved in the rescue, transport, treatment and continued care for these sea turtles. Your endless efforts are truly amazing! And many thanks to all of our supporters - we couldn't do what we do without you!

Kelly Thorvalson

Sea Turtle Rescue Program Manager

Sea Turtle Rescue Tree in Beaufort's Festival of Trees

Caroline Hospice in Beaufort, SC hosts a Festival of Trees each year to welcome the holiday season and raise money for the organization. This year, the three turtle nest protection groups from the Beaufort area, Fripp, Hunting and Harbor Islands, sponsored a Sea Turtle Rescue Tree in the festival. How exciting to decorate a Christmas tree with sea turtles!

First on the list of things to do was make turtle ornaments. Sea Turtle Rescue Program staff and volunteers got together at volunteer Patricia DeVito's home one evening for a decoration making "soiree". It was great fun as you can see from the photos below!

The dough ornaments were baked and then the creativity in all of us kicked in!

Although a few of the turtles looked like they were recuperating from missing limbs and boat strikes, most were beautiful! Over 100 sparkling sea turtle ornaments were created with lots of TLC, much like the care we give to our patients.

The tree decorating took place on Sunday, December 5th, while Sea Turtle Rescue Program staff were attending a conference in Florida. Although we hated to miss the culmination of our ornament making efforts, several hospital volunteers offered to take the lead in decorating the tree in Beaufort.

Barb Gobien is showing off one of the photo ornaments of turtles that have been rehabilitated in the Sea Turtle Hospital. Our photographer, Barb Bergwerf made these fantastic ornaments that tell the story of the patients. Not pictured here is the wonderful sea turtle tree skirt that Barb Gobien made. How did we get such talented volunteers?

This little Santa turtle is part of the tree topper - so cute!

The tree is BEAUTIFUL! It went up for auction fully decorated and was won by none other than Janie Lackman, head of the Fripp Island Turtle Team. We hope you enjoy the tree, Janie!

The Sea Turtle Rescue Program Volunteers are pictured with leaders of the Fripp and Hunting Island Turtle Teams. Clockwise from bottom: Fran Nolan (Hunting Island), Barb Gobien, Patricia DeVito, Jackie Huffman, Bev Ballow, and Janie Lackman (Fripp Island)

Not only was this a great way to spread the good word about the wonderful work being done to rehabilitate sick and injured sea turtles at the South Carolina Aquarium, but it was great fun for rescue staff and volunteers. We would like to send a huge thank you to Janie, Fran and Buddy from the Beaufort turtle teams and also to our wonderfully talented and dedicated volunteer staff! We are so fortunate to have each one of you working with us!

Merry Christmas from all of us at the South Carolina Aquarium!
Kelly

Turtle Van Gogh creates the perfect holiday gift!

Is there someone on your shopping list this year that has everything? Leave it to the turtles!

The Sea Turtle Rescue Program has a few non-sea turtle residents that can help you find the perfect gift for the animal lover on your list. As a part of environmental enrichment for our diamondback terrapins and eastern box turtles, we have skillfully trained them to paint! Ok, so there’s not much skill or training involved. All we do is let the turtles walk through non-toxic, water based paint and onto a canvas to create a beautiful piece of art. We just have to pick the “right” colors!

Environmental enrichment aims to enhance animal activity and provide mental stimulation, adding interesting and complex activities to the animals’ daily routine. It’s interactive for the turtles, fun for the volunteers, and the results are stunning. On your next visit to the aquarium, stop by the Welcome Desk and they will gladly show you all of our animal art. Each masterpiece comes with a photo of the artist and a Certificate of Authenticity. And while we’re partial to reptiles at the Sea Turtle Rescue Program, there are otter and penguin paintings, too! Come check it out, you will not be disappointed.

Happy Holidays!

Megan Walsh, Sea Turtle Rescue Program Intern