This is a guest post from Senior Aquarium Educator Lisbeth Bornhofft. She recently traveled to our new Animal Care Center in Quincy to get a lay of the land, learning about the facility and its patients so she can teach her fellow educators back on Central Wharf. Read about Lisbeth in the Cool Jobs section of the Fall 2010 issue of blue member magazine.

As an Education liaison to the Rescue & Rehabilitation department, I had the opportunity to visit with our colleagues at the Quincy facility. My mission: keep our volunteers back at the mother ship in touch with Rescue & Rehab activities, especially now that they are separated from our Central Wharf campus.



I was greeted at the door by our illustrious staff painter and general Aquarium cheerleader, Dave Comerford. He's been working on finishing the specialized floors needed in such a wet and highly trafficked space "They let anyone in here!" he quipped. Actually, that's not true. This facility is not open to the public. I showed him my ID badge and he reluctantly let me in.

I was immediately astounded by the sheer size and high-tech feel of our new facility. You could fit several of the planet's biggest animals, blue whales, in here—well, that would never happen, but maybe you can imagine how big such a structure would have to be. (See Adam's post for more photos of the facility.)



Upon arrival in the rescue/rehab area, I found Adam Kennedy and volunteer Maury administering "turtle Gatorade," (which I would prefer to call "turtleade"), to some recent arrivals.



I was struck by the calm efficiency with which staff and volunteers carry out their duties. This has always been the case with these highly capable people, but as Connie Merigo pointed out when she found me, their job is a whole lot easier now. Not only do they have plenty of well-organized space, but the various essential areas are adjacent, instead of spread out over several buildings and floors. No longer do they have to carry turtles through public spaces and answer a barrage of questions, like, "Where are the bathrooms?" Don't get me wrong—they never minded answering questions, but now they are saving a significant amount of time that can be spent caring for our endangered guests.




The turtles are shuffled on a regular basis from their holding pools to the exam room and back again.

Out at the holding pools, I found 31 Kemps ridley sea turtles and four green sea turtles thriving in their temperature-controlled tanks. The turtles are "cold stunned" when they arrive, so staff members must raise the temperature just a few degrees each day to the secure the turtles' road to health. It was feeding time, so staff and volunteers were engaged in the patient game of temping turtles with herring and squid.


Feeding time!


Yum, herring.


Mmmm, squid.

You can almost hear the turtle chomping in this video!



But sometimes they're not that interested in eating. Here's another short clip of feeding time with the turtles. As you can see, feeding requires a lot of patience.



Connie's tour of the facility included a viewing of several well-known staff members who spend some time in Quincy. Veterinarian Charlie Innis was working wicked hard (I can say that because I'm from Massachusetts) at his computer, but I'm sure he was thinking, "I can't wait to try out our cool new wet table." He'll be able to carry out medical procedures on fish with this equipment! Katie Kodzis sometimes takes a break from her work in the Aquarium Medical Center to "run bloods" for rescued turtles in this space. According to Connie she's a blood analyst extraordinaire. (If I were from London, I might say she's a "bloody genius"!)


Dr. Innis at work.

You may not have met the newest member of Rescue/Rehab, biologist Kurt Hood. He looked like he was settling in quite well!



I couldn't help but linger by a pool with eight Kemp's ridleys who had just arrived that morning. I'm thankful this week for a lot of things, but I'm especially thankful to Connie and her staff for welcoming me during a time of heightened activity, and I'm extraordinarily thankful for these little guys who, with the help of NEAq, will get to spend more time on the Blue Planet!



Happy Thanksgiving!

- Lisbeth

Have you been wondering what the rescue team has been up to the past couple weeks? I'll give you a hint...turtle, turtles, and more turtles! The 2010 turtle season is in full swing keeping our days busy with swimming them in kiddy pools, feeding, treatments and much more. The photos below show just some of our patients in kiddy pools and our isolation tanks.





We even have 4 green sea turtles now. Below is a picture of the first green sea turtle of the season, Hercules (#13), during his intake exam.



You may remember from the past that we like to satellite tag green sea turtles to see what path they take when they are released. We are hoping to do the same for at least a couple of our greens this summer. Maybe they'll lead the same path as Goose, who is still transmitting for over a year now! The map below shows Goose's most recent location. You can continue to follow him on seaturtle.org.

Hi all,

I would like to give a special shout out to the 5th grade students at the Hallsville Middle School in Hallsville, TX! These students recently read a book called Interrupted Journey, the book is based on cold-stunned sea turtles that stranded and were sent to our sea turtle hospital at the New England Aquarium. [Learn more about the Aquarium's sea turtle conservation and research!]

Below is a photo of the book Interrupted Journey.


After they read the book, their teacher, Ms. Dulaney, asked them to write a postcard about what they learned. Ms. Dulaney then wrote a letter and mailed the postcards to us here at the New England Aquarium Rescue department.

I pinned up the cards and took photos. If you click on the photos you can see the cards in detail. These students put a lot of work into this assignment and it really paid off - the postcards are beautiful!









I took this photo separate from the other postcards because this student actually called the vet in the book by name. While Dr. Howard Krum no longer works at the New England Aquarium, he is a close personal friend. He will be truly touched by this postcard, I will be sure to email him a copy (Thanks, Jonah!).



These postcards were double sided with the pictures on the front and text on the back. All were written with great care and passion. I read every one of them and was impressed and inspired when I was done. The students had some great questions. While I can't answer all of them here, I'll cover the most common ones.

Q: What species generally come into our sea turtle hospital?

A: Kemp's ridley (the most endangered sea turtles in the world), green sea turtles and loggerheads.

Q: What do the turtles eat while they are in rehabilitation?

A: We feed a variety of food items to balance their nutrition. Squid, herring, shrimp and live crabs make up the bulk of their daily diets. We also provide vegetation for the green sea turtles.

Q: What sizes are the sea turtles?

A: The turtles that strand due to hypothermia (reduced body temperature) are generally very small depending on the species. The Kemp's are the smallest and often weigh between 1-5 pounds when they come in. The green turtles tend to be a little bigger at between 4-8 pounds and the loggerheads are the largest usually at about 100 pounds. Last year we had a 175 pound loggerhead strand! (Note: The animals that strand in our area are juveniles, adults of each species will be much larger than the above weights.)

The largest sea turtle in the world is the leatherback sea turtle. These animals rarely strand and do not tolerate rehabilitation well. These turtles can weight over 1,000 pounds.

Below are photos of leatherbacks I took while I was at sea working on a leatherback sea turtle research project.


The students also noticed that we receive a lot of volunteer help and asked for some photos. Below are photos of our staff and volunteers in action and a few of our current patients.









I truly enjoyed reading the postcards from these smart and wonderful students. It really brightened my day to know there are so many people out there that care as much about sea turtles as I do - no matter the age.

I'd also like to thank their teacher Ms. Dulaney for reaching out to us on behalf of the students. Teaching our future generations is difficult and often thankless. On behalf of the Rescue staff, I thank you for taking the time to teach your students about marine animals and the importance of helping them. You're a true star!

- Connie

Hi all,

As you read in Kerry's previous post, sea turtle season is now in full swing. Yesterday four more live Kemp's ridley sea turtles arrived from the beaches of Cape Cod.

In the photo below a new arrival is photographed while a Rescue staff biologist prepares for the intake process. The process includes a complete physical exam, photo documentation, wound care, blood collection and more. As you can see, the animals are often covered in sand upon arrival. A gentle flush with saline usually removes all the sand without causing injury to the eye.


In addition to the sand on these animals, they also strand with a significant amount of algae on them. The carapace (top shell) of the turtle below is black, however only small sections can be seen under and between the algae growth.

Below is a photo of the activity in our clinic this morning. With help from our interns (holding the turtles), Rescue staff biologists collect blood samples and perform morning treatments.


In the photo below Katie, our veterinary technician, (our own super tech!) processes blood samples in the new lab.


I am saddened to report that we lost number 4, the little turtle named Quincy. He/she declined rapidly and was put on a ventilator and emergency recovery drugs were administered. He showed only slight response to our efforts and slipped away yesterday. RIP little Quincy.

The other turtles that came in around the same time as Quincy continue to improve. In the photo below number 5 and number 6 are shown swimming around prior to their morning feeding.


Progress in the our hospital continues daily. Below are three additional tanks that will be used for special cases or to isolate animals for medical or other reasons. The tank farthest away in this photo is full of water while the other two await final pluming details before water will be introduced. Behind each tank are individualized and isolated life support systems.



Thanks for your interest in stranded sea turtles! We will do our best to keep you updated as more turtles arrive.

- Connie

Meet our new patients! All of the below patients are cold stunned Kemp's ridley sea turtles that were found and transported to our facility by Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

As Adam mentioned in his last post here, the rescue team is extremely excited about our new home. And it appears the turtles are excited too! As we continued to set up and organize in preparation for cold stun season, our first turtle patient decided to help us break in our new set up. The Kemp's ridley sea turtle, appropriately named 'Quincy', arrived last weekend.