Loggerhead 'Pounder' was caught in a pound net, in Core Sound, near Beaufort, North Carolina. Cleaned up, DNA sampled, examined top and bottom, and released.
Director and 2007 Animal Planet Hero of the Year Jean Beasley opened the facility in 1997 to honor her daughter's dedication to turtle rescue. Since then, the all-volunteer staff have successfully nursed and released 186 turtles, rehoming one to the Minnesota Zoo.
Currently about 16 injured loggerhead, green and Kemp's Ridley sea turtles are recovering at the 900 square foot facility. Turtles typically arrive at the center due to internal infections, cold exposure, fractures or entanglement.
They are housed in individual tanks into which water is pumped from the sound and continually circulated. Staff guide tours past the tanks to introduce visitors to recuperating patients.
In addition to offering rescue and medical care, hospital staff monitors the 26-mile coastline for nesting loggerhead turtles and hatchlings. Each surviving adult female returns to lay her eggs three to five times during a season. After two months, about 120 tiny hatchlings emerge from a nest at once in what is called a boil. The 2-ounce turtles then waddle down to the ocean and into the waves, males never to return, only one in 5 - 10,000 turtles to survive to adulthood. Volunteers keep watch over known nests, protecting buried eggs from predators and tracking the success of hatchings.
Volunteers may begin helping at the hospital from as young as 13 years old through the Junior Intern program, and are welcomed beyond retirement. College students earn class credit through work at the facility, and help is accepted both from next door and across the globe.
The hospital does not receive state or federal funding, but operates solely on fundraisers, individual donations to tours and gift shop proceeds.
-|-
For more information seaturtlehospital.org
Send us a STORY, PHOTOS, or make a COMMENT!
Attractions, Events, Hotels, Cottages, Things To Do, Retirement, Real Estate
