As the Rescue department gears up for bringing turtles south for release. I thought it would be interesting to show you some photos from the record smashing event and compare them to what it looks like in the hospital area today.


Above, our hallways lined with banana boxes of turtles. The picture on the left shows when the animals are being triaged after arriving from the Massachusetts Audubon at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The picture on the right shows the turtles lined up getting ready for a transport to another facility for continuation of care.

Today the hallways are clear of turtles. Life in the rehab area has resumed its normal operations.

The above pictures give a rare peak at what it looks like when over 300 turtles are in the facility at one time.

Normally (as seen here), we try to keep our turtle lanes to under six animals at any given time.

Turtles transitioning

This is a guest post from Ann Cortissoz, a writer in the Marketing and Communications department and editor of the member magazine, blue. She volunteered to help the Rescue team during the height of the sea turtle stranding season.

I'm an Aquarium staff member who doesn't usually work with Rescue and Rehab, so when I went down to Quincy to lend a hand at the Animal Care Center, two things struck me over and over again: When you're rehabbing rescued sea turtles, you need patience and organization—lots and lots of both.

The day I was in Quincy, more than 70 turtles were being treated. Most of them were swimming in the big tanks, but some of the animals that weren't yet strong enough to be in deep water were in kiddie pools, and these animals had to be watched over by a volunteer acting as a lifeguard.



Some turtles were swimming in actual kiddie pools (top) but there were so many that needed to be in shallow water that the staff had to improvise. The little guy on the left above is in a container that was designed to transport harbor porpoise.

What really took me by surprise is how much record-keeping has to happen. The staff has to make sure that each turtle is getting the treatment it's supposed to get based on its condition. Each animal has a chart labeled with its intake number (the number on its shell) and other information.



Every time an animal gets a shot of antibiotics, or vitamins, or fluids, the treatment is marked in its chart. Every time the animal is examined, the results of the exam are marked down in its chart. Not only does this take a lot of time, given the number of turtles, it also takes a lot of staff. Each time a turtle is treated, not only does a staff member have to administer treatment, someone else has to hold the turtle. That was my job for much of my day, and it's surprising how much those little flippers sting when the turtles start waving them around.

 
You can see this turtle flapping its flippers as a volunteer holds onto it.

It's also not easy feeding 70-plus rescued sea turtles on a twice-daily basis. And it's not quick. Every day, when squid and other fish is prepped for the feedings, it's cut into carefully weighed portions so the people feeding the animals know how much each morsel weighs.


These pieces of squid have been weighed and are ready to be fed to the turtles.


The rescue staff has calculated how much food each turtle should be eating per day, and this amount is written next to the turtle's ID number on the feeding charts. Each time a turtle I was trying to feed ate a squid ring or a portion of tentacle, I had to record it on the chart.


One of the feeding charts


Because such careful records have to be kept, each turtle is fed individually. Using long tongs, a staff member or volunteer holds a piece of fish in front of an individual turtle and hopes the turtle grabs it. Holding the tongs takes some coordination; you have to keep the piece of fish in the tongs until the turtle reaches for it, then let go. Eventually the animals will graduate and be fed differently but at this stage of rehab they are fed individually.

Some turtles snap up the food right away (see the video below), but some need to be coaxed (and coaxed and coaxed) by waving the food gently in front of them. This is so time-consuming that by the time the morning feeding is done, it's almost time for the afternoon feeding to start. And by the time the afternoon feeding is done, it feels like the next day's morning feeding is ready to start!

At the end of the day, I was exhausted (and I didn't even really do anything except hold turtles and try to feed them). On my way home, thinking about the day I had spent at the Animal Care Center, I had to shake my head in amazement at the quality of care the Rescue and Rehab staff gives these rescued sea turtles. And they do it every day.

—Ann Cortissoz

Hi Folks,
A short blog this morning, we have a long day ahead of us with a very heavy treatment day. I'll be leaving in a few minutes so I'll keep this blog short.

Each day starts by setting up for sea turtle treatments. I'm a stickler about having my treatment tables completely set up and organized before the first turtle is pulled. Below you can see the tables set up and ready for treatments to begin.


In the photo below you can see an endangered Kemp's ridley on a towel ready for treatments. We give treatments in the same way with each turtle, the first stop is at the scale, then we take a heart rate, then physical followed by antibiotic injections and a tube feeding. Not all turtles receive a tube feeding, I'll explain that in another blog.


As part of the physical exam, feces is collected--whenever the turtles produce some that is. Below is a photo of Dr. Shane Boylan (from the South Carolina Aquarium, check out their sea turtle hospital blog here) looking at a fecal sample under the microscope. The sample was from the tiny hawksbill I've reported on (here and here). This sample contained some interesting findings, I'll report on those later.


We did have a new turtle come in, however this animal was not oiled. In the photo below, Dr. Boylan and Aquarium of the Americas (AOA) stranding program coordinator Michele Kelley collect biological samples from the new turtle. The photo on the right shows the animal after introduced to his new pool.


I made some time last night to clean and organize the clinic. We've been so busy treating turtles and processing biological samples, we have not spent much time organizing and cleaning the lab area. I tore through it yesterday and scrubbed it from top to bottom and organized all our medical supplies. Today is a large treatment day so we'll be processing samples in this room all day. The photo on the left shows the lab a few days ago, the photo on the right shows the lab after my organizational rampage!


I'd like to express my thanks to all of you who have posted little notes of encouragement on our blog, facebook, twitter and my personal email. This is difficult work and very taxing physically and mentally. In addition, the heat is draining and problematic. Your encouragement is greatly appreciated.

- Connie

Hi all,

Another busy day down here in Florida. Adam and I started our day at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. We worked with the Center staff on medical treatments and performed diagnostics on the turtles in their care. We had to work fast since we knew there was a shipment of cold stunned arriving at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center at 4:00PM.

We created a system where the animals were numbered and photographed as they went to the intake station. At the intake station they received a full physical exam and blood was collected. From there the blood was run instantly and medical plans were written by the attending veterinarian, Dr. Nancy Mette. A team of medical professionals prepared the prescribed medications, which then went to one of the three treatment teams.

28 animals is a lot to assess in one day, not to mention Gumbo already has a high number of patients. Everything ran smoothly and the animals benefited from the preparation and organization of the Gumbo staff.

This was a long day and tomorrow will likely be the same. All these new turtles will be treated and examined again tomorrow, along with all the others.

- Connie