Showing posts with label relocation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relocation. Show all posts

7/22/10

Weekly Oil Spill Update: The Road to Release

While Adam and Connie are away, I thought I'd give you an update on the journey of rescued sea turtles from the Gulf.

SeaWorld Orlando just took more sea turtles from Gulf World, in Panama City, FL. 6 Kemp's ridley and 13 green sea turtles were de-oiled at Gulf World and then transferred to SeaWorld, where they will have more space to care for these animals. Here is a video that shows their path to recovery at SeaWorld.

The pictures below show the sea turtle recovery at SeaWorld, which is acting as a secondary facility for oiled turtles before release.

(Photo credit: SeaWorld Rescue)

As of last week, 10 or so nests (1 of which was a Kemp's) have been relocated from the Florida Panhandle to the Kennedy Space Center (See our previous posts about nest relocation here). The first sea turtle hatchlings have been released on the Atlantic coast of Florida, and here is a video. The photo below shows the first Kemp's ridleys being released.

(Photo credit: AP via Yahoo News)

This New York Times video is a great news piece that I recommend you view. A word of warning about the video: Some of the necropsy, or animal autopsy, scenes may be disturbing to some viewers.

~Kerry
Posted by Kerry at 9:20 AM 1 comments
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7/7/10

Weekly Oil Spill Update: Burn Zones & Turtle Nests

As Connie is away for a bit Kerry and Adam have been charged with keeping the weekly updates going. So here we go.

Just how big is this oil spill? We received a great visual from one of our colleagues the other day. Click on this link, input your location, and see what happens.

Connie spoke about the turtle nests and fears of turtles in the burn zones. We have found some interesting articles detailing both topics. The concerns for sea turtles being affected during the controlled burns have become very public. BP is now placing observers, highly trained sea turtle rescuers, on the oil burn boats. The hope is that the observers will be able to sight and rescue sea turtles in the burn area before any burning or skimming occurs.

The below picture showing the controlled burns in the Gulf was taken by Chief Petty Officer John Kepsimelis, U.S. Coast Guard. See the photo in this USA TODAY slide show.

Connie mentioned the plans to relocate 70,000 sea turtle eggs form the coasts of Alabama and Florida's panhandle in the blog here. Relocating nests, which will mostly be loggerhead sea turtle nests is an extremely delicate process. Experts will excavate a nest by slowly and carefully digging, mostly by hand. In an effort to keep the environment of the egg as similar as possible to the natural nest, specially designed Styrofoam containers will be used to place the eggs in. Sand and the right amount of moisture will be placed around the eggs, and the temperature will be carefully monitored and controlled.

The plan is to then transport the eggs to a warehouse at Kennedy's Space Center in Florida. The eggs will be incubated there until the turtles hatch, and then the hatchlings will be released on the east coast of Florida. The risks of this process is high, but the risk of leaving the hatchlings to enter the Gulf and potentially become covered in and ingest oil is likely higher.

There is also debate that a possibly safer method would be to leave the nests as is and screen them to allow the eggs to hatch naturally. Then the hatchlings would be contained, collected and then transported to a safe release location. Hatchlings are not quite as delicate as the eggs, and this could also help reduce the risk of affecting sex ratios. It is hard to say what the best choice would be in this impossible situation.

Below are some pictures we found from the Coast Guard. It shows biologists from the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge in Alabama relocating a nest. This nest was relocated because it was too close to the tide line. It is protocol to move the nest higher up on the beach. The new nest has to mimic the original nest as closely as possible. You can see how delicate the process is, and keep in mind this is only a short move compared to the relocation procedure that will begin in the next few weeks.



We will do our best to keep you informed while Connie is away!

~Adam and Kerry
Posted by Adam at 4:56 PM 0 comments
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7/3/10

Weekly Oil Spill Update - Relocating turtles and nests

Hi all,

Sorry for missing my self inflicted oil spill blog deadline - the past few days were crazy for me and I never got to it. Speaking of which lets get to the matter at hand, the weekly oil spill update.

This week 11 sea turtles were transported out of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, (IMMS) located in Mississippi, to free up space for oiled sea turtles. Nine of the turtles went to SeaWorld and two went to Disney. None of these animals were oiled however, each stranded with injuries related to interactions with humans. I believe several were hooked accidentally by local fishermen. IMMS will now have more space available to accept oiled sea turtles if it becomes necessary.

In the photo below, Jane Davis, curator for Disney's animal programs, checks over a Kemp's ridley sea turtle fresh off the transport plane. Disney is a long time partner of ours in the effort to save endangered sea turtles; two of their veterinarians are NEAq alum!

Photo credit: AP/John Raoux

In the photos below SeaWorld veterinarian, Dr. Scott Gearhart, examines a Kemp's ridley sea turtle upon arrival to their facility.

Photo credits: AP/John Raoux

In the photo below on the left a SeaWorld staff member, Lateesha Hektner, lowers a sea turtle into its new rehabilitation pool. I borrowed the photo on the right from the SeaWorld blog to show their excellent triage facility. Sea World has a talented staff in veterinary medicine and in their ability to design and quickly set up emergency facilities for events such as this oil spill. This triage center below is excellent in that the flow through water systems will provide excellent water quality for these animals.

Photo credit (left): AP/John Raoux
Photo credit (right): SeaWorld Rescue

The other significant and current news regarding sea turtles is the announcement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the NOAA Fisheries Service to relocate nests. They plan to dig up upwards of 70,000 sea turtle eggs along the nesting beaches in Alabama and Florida in hopes of salvaging this nesting season. In short, the fear is that the hatchlings will enter the Gulf and either consume contaminated food and die or perish in the oil itself. I'll summarize the situation for you, however you should really read about it yourself (see link below).

I have read most every online story about this issue and have attached a link below for the best article. This article is the most significant since it quotes both Barbara Schroeder, biologist in charge of sea turtles for NOAA (read more about her here) and Sandy MacPherson, biologist in charge of sea turtles for the Fish and Wildlife Service. These two women have made it their life's work to study, promote and protect sea turtles. Their combined impact on sea turtles is immeasurable. It brings me great comfort to know that they are leading the charge to save as many sea turtle as possible throughout this oil spill disaster.

Barbara Schroeder and Sandy MacPherson both know and acknowledge that the nest relocation plan will have its risks and that they expect some number of mortality. The relocation plan, directed by Sandy, outlines strict handling protocols and transport protocols. Relocating nests is not a new science and they will use every effort to reduce the number of deaths. Through the natural process of nesting, hatchlings emerging from the nest already experience a high mortality rate. Eggs are dug up and consumed by predators, nests flood and birds and other animals consume many of the hatchlings as they crawl down the beach. I can only speculate that the mortality in a controlled environment eliminating the factors above might be equal or less than the natural mortality rate... only time will tell. Either way they have to do something to salvage this nesting season. The devastation on the population if we loose this entire nesting season could prove disastrous for Kemp's ridleys and loggerheads in particular.

Click here for access to the article I mentioned above.

- Connie

As always, use this link if you're looking for ways you can help during the disaster in the Gulf.
Posted by Connie at 10:11 AM 0 comments
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