The Turtle Hospital Newsletter

Visit our website to keep up on all the new and interesting patients under treatment at the Hospital and find out when your favorite turtle is released back into the wild:

www.TurtleHospital.org

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Thanks for all your interest and support.

Critical Hawksbill Flown In for Treatment

Good Hope receives an ultrasound conducted by our veterinarian, Dr. Doug Mader. The image gave us a more accurate count of eggs inside the turtle.

On September 1, a gravid hawksbill sea turtle in critical condition was flown from St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands to Miami, FL, courtesy of American Airlines, where Turtle Hospital staff then transported her back to our facility for rehab. "Good Hope," as she was aptly named, is recovering from deep gashes to her front flippers, wounds that resemble those incurred from gaffing hooks. With limited resources, and having coordinated two previous sea turtle transfers from St. Croix to The Turtle Hospital in years past, William Coles of the VI Fish & Wildlife contacted us once again about a sea turtle in need. A strict medicinal regimen coupled with tube feeding and daily physical therapy is helping the turtle make slow progress.

The nature of Good Hope's delicate state is further complicated by the nutritional demands of the embryos forming inside of her. A female hawksbill can hold up to 150 eggs at one time. That means potentially 150 itty bitty developing sea turtles are pulling energy and nutrients from their mother for their own nourishment. As Good Hope's egg laying process has been relatively unpredictable, and quite atypical for nesting females, we induced labor with the hopes that fewer eggs inside of her would allow her to gain the strength necessary for recovery. Vasotocin, the reptilian form of the drug hormone oxytocin, was injected to initiate contractions. Unfortunately, it was not successful, likely due to Good Hope's body being in a weakened state that it did not respond as we had hoped. Nesting behavior usually involves a female laying a clutch of all mature eggs at one time.

Founder Richie Moretti tries to placement feed Good Hope. This technique can help to stimulate the appetite and encourage a turtle to eat on its own.

Nevertheless, Good Hope continues to deposit eggs at her own pace. Some days we scoop up 3 eggs for incubation, other days we find 7, sometimes none at all. While 100% of our focus remains on Good Hope's survival, with the goal of releasing this critically endangered adult female back into the wild from the beaches of St. Croix, we are packing together all of the passed eggs in makeshift nests, nestled in sand directly from the shores of her native island. As the sex of sea turtles is temperature-dependent, we are monitoring the temperature of each incubator as well. To date, Good Hope has laid 69 eggs, still with many more to come!

Though the turtle still remains in critical condition, her increase in activity gives us a positive outlook. The flipper wounds are receiving daily care, and healthy tissue is beginning to granulate in. Additionally, her blood chemistry is reaching healthier levels with decreasing signs of infection. Our efforts can now be focused on the turtle's swollen and damaged eyes, which appear to have been gaffed as well and affected by high levels of water pollutants. (The U.S. Virgin Islands do not have restrictions on waste contaminants entering the oceanic waters.) In order to be released, she will need at least one fully functional eye for survival. You can follow Good Hope's progress by reading the updates on our website at www.turtlehospital.com.

Hatchlings Galore!

Two green hatchlings forage for squid tentacles in their feeding bin. When hatchlings are eating on their own, they are marked with a red dot.

Only about 5 months out of the year do rescued and recovered hatchlings become patients at The Turtle Hospital. Sea turtles start emerging from their nests in the Keys around late June, continuing through as late as November. Those that are weak, injured, disoriented or simply "late bloomers" come to our facility for a jumpstart on survival. We begin by offering them miniscule pieces of squid tentacles. The hatchlings that do not eat are placement fed which is done by opening their little beaks and placing the food in their mouths. From there, they can swallow the food on their own. Usually, it takes a few tries before the baby turtles begin to self-feed.

Once they become autonomous, we mark them with red dots to signify that they are "eaters." Provided these "eaters" do not have any other abnormalities or disabilities that would hinder their chances of survival, we round up the gang for release 30-miles out at sea, directly into the Gulf Stream. Any hatchling needing further care will remain behind until he or she is fit for the likes of the deep ocean blue!

Most of our hatchling patients are loggerheads. This year, we've had nearly 100 loggerhead hatchlings come through our hospital! We also got a load of 20 green hatchlings. The loggerheads tend to be more laid back than the greens who are always in a swimming frenzy. Maybe we'll even get some hawksbills in this season-they'll be hatching soon!

Colorado's Success Story

Colorado beat the odds to overcome one of the worst boat hits The Turtle Hospital has ever seen. He was released on September 5 back into his ocean home.

Five months of rehab might seem like a long time, but not when you see the before and after photos of our most recent success story, a 160-lb adult male loggerhead named "Colorado." Rescued off Cudjoe Key back in March, Colorado suffered a nasty boat prop hit that tore through his carapace, severing the spine near the rear. His tail and back flippers showed signs of paralysis, and four deep slices into the muscle made it look like the odds were against this guy. But sea turtles are showing us every day that they can beat the odds!

When Colorado first arrived, he was dry-docked due to weakness and to prevent infection. The prop wound was cleaned daily before being sealed off to keep out bacteria.

Colorado cheated death, miraculously still alive when he arrived in our ER. Beginning his rehab stay with an overhead mister, we were eventually able to lower him into shallow water. From there, his water level gradually increased to a full tank. Over time, he moved up the scale from non-releasable to releasable.

Pre-release, a live lobster was tossed into Colorado's tank to test the turtle's ability to hunt despite rear flipper paralysis. As this photo shows, his hunting skills were still up to par!

Our renowned veterinarian Dr. Doug Mader (who sometimes seems more like a magician or engineer-what with all the work he's done for our patients) manufactured a wire suture to hold together a loose part of the shell where the propeller had gone all the way through to the edge. He also performed some surgical debriding of the damaged area. In addition to treatment with antibiotics and vitamins, every morning for more than two months, the Rehabbers cleaned out Colorado's wounds and poured honey over the open sores to help scar tissue fill in the space. Physical therapy also did wonders for this turtle, with flipper stretches and a move to one of our 30,000 gallon tanks stimulating blood flow to increase circulation. As a last step to test for releasability, a live lobster was thrown in to gauge the turtle's hunting capability. Voila! This guy proved he was a survivor and is now back home in the sea after quality care from our Rehab team.

Jimbo's Jumbo Pap

The surgery team, led by Dr. Doug Mader, begins to laser off Jimbo's jumbo pap. The tumor weighed more than 3 pounds!

When the Rehab team assessed "Jimbo" upon intake, it was apparent that this 65-lb juvenile green had fallen victim to the Fibropapilloma virus. A very large tumor protruded from the topside of Jimbo's right front flipper-so large a tumor that one could easily overlook the fact that the turtle is missing the other flipper! A left front "nub" has old wounds suggestive of a past entanglement. Luckily, FP seems to be the only ailment requiring treatment. After an endoscope showed healthy internal organs, Jimbo's jumbo pap was lasered off. It weighed in at a whopping 1431 grams-that's more than 3 pounds!

Previously, the largest tumor The Turtle Hospital had ever removed weighed 535 grams. That tumor had been hanging off of the rear flipper of S.A.S, a juvenile green. S.A.S. was released in May of this year.

Thanks to the handiwork of Dr. Doug Mader, Timmy's eye tumors were successfully removed, with the turtle's vision still intact!

Transferred from Miami Seaquarium's turtle rehab facility, Hook poses for photographic measurements of FP surgery scars and tumor regrowths.

Additional FP patients have been filling up our tanks lately. Now that we're into the heat of the season-with August through October being the hottest months in the Keys-we tend to see a lot more greens with the virus. Linked to water pollution, the virus is also exacerbated by warm weather. A small juvenile green named "Timmy" was found in the coastal waters with a heavy load of tumors, including coverage on both eyes. With the expertise of Dr. Doug Mader, Timmy's eye tumors were removed without damage to the turtle's cornea, meaning the turtle still has vision!

Being 1 of only 3 turtle hospitals in Florida that currently treats sea turtles with Fibropapilloma, we also receive a lot of transfer patients. "Hook" came to us a few weeks ago from Miami Seaquarium's rehab facility. Initially treated for removal of a fishing hook, tumors sprouted on this turtle. He was subsequently transferred down south to our center for full laser treatment.

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We hope you enjoyed this month's newsletter!

Be sure to visit our website, www.turtlehospital.org, for more stories, news and updates on your favorite turtles! Thank you for your interest and support! Remember, we couldn't do it without you!

Best Regards,
The Turtle Hospital Staff

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