Normally we have turtles in two areas; Sea Turtle Bay (the big house) and Sea Turtle Sick Bay, the first stop for any new admits and turtles requiring on-going care. We now have patients in five and sometimes six different areas of the building. They’re not in the kitchen yet but some of them would probably love that as they would be much closer to the food prep area where they could beg for the table scraps. No turtle ever leaves our hospital skinny – we’re famous for sending out critters on the high end of the weight chart.
Most of you are familiar with Sea Turtle Bay. It’s the last stop before release and most of the patients are just biding their time for a bit while they wait for warmer waters or they put on another kilo or two. This is the area with our observation ramp where you can meet the turtles by the railing up close and also see the others hanging out in their tanks doing turtle stuff. Right now we have 48 turtles in stationary as well as portable tanks on the ramp and the floor. It’s a zoo in there!
In Sea Turtle Sick Bay, the area behind the glass observation windows we currently have 33 turtles, a mix of Kemp’s and greens plus two good-sized loggerheads, Myrtle and Xena. These guys are generally holdovers from last year and are mostly cold stun victims. Some are well on their way to maybe getting an upgrade if ever a tank opens up in the big house. Some need daily treatments for wounds as well as occasional IV antibiotic or fluid support. Some that we thought were looking pretty good after the first few weeks have just now developed other problems like pneumonia or bone disease. Being cold is not the only effect of cold stunning.
Next stop is Sea Turtle Isolation. It’s a totally separate room off-limits to visitors. We designed it to accommodate any patient that needed to be quarantined from our general population for any reason: extreme injury, possible communicable infections, etc. It’s also an area where we can easily control the temperature, starting out “cold” and gradually raising it to slowly warm cold stun victims. We have 18 turtles in residence there, all cold stuns needing ongoing daily treatment for a variety of reasons.
Moving down the hall, what’s usually one of the staff bathrooms is now the TICU, Turtle Intensive Care Unit. That pretty much tells you the condition of the five turtles enjoying the lovely décor at the moment. Those of us from the old hospital have flashbacks to the bathroom down there. It was a bathroom only in the sense that it did have an operable toilet, but no door! We often shared it with as many hatchlings and cold stuns as we could squeeze in. These TICU turtles are in a palace compared to those turtles of years ago.
But wait, there’s more. In the hallway outside of Sick Bay we have 3 more patients. And in the event that there’s a straggler there’s always Jean office that can hold a small tank or two.
The hits just keep coming and with the cold weather that keeps hammering us at night who knows how many more are on the way.
So, yet again: just in case you find one of these unfortunate critters. Just because a turtle is not moving it doesn’t necessarily mean it is dead. It might just be cold stunned. If it’s a little guy gently pick it up and relocate it to a car, garage or other unheated area of your home. DO NOT try to warm it up – the shock of a quick temperature change could send it into shock. We’ll send our staff out to rescue any and all turtles, big and small when you give us the word. Call one of the following numbers if you suspect you’ve come across a local cold-stunned turtle: Hospital contacts are Terry Meyer @ 910-470-2880 and Jean Beasley @ 910-470-2800 . We will also pick up on the hospital line ( 910-329-0222 ) if the call comes into us during normal hospital hours.
The state of NC has a stranding hotline that picks up 24/7: 252-241-7367
Get out your calendar and your beach walking shoes because training for Topsail Turtle Project volunteers has been scheduled. And big old flipper hugs go out to the Topsail Island Moose Lodge #2061 for providing the venue for this year’s training at no cost to us! Training dates: Wednesday, April 8th from 6:00 – 8:30 PM and Tuesday, April 14th from 1:00 – 3:30 PM. The Lodge is located at 13175 NC Hwy 50 in Holly Ridge. It’s between Publix and Hwy 17. Turtle Project volunteers walk our beaches beginning May 1st through August 31st looking for signs of turtle nesting. Many are also nest sitters during the hatching which generally runs through September or October. It’s a great way to literally get a foothold into the wonderful world of these majestic creatures.
We are closed to the public but anticipating opening in April on our two-day-a week schedule. We will still have a huge patient load so the tours will most likely be self-guided as our staff continues working 10 - 12 hour days. And unfortunately there’s always the possibility that Coronavirus may have some impact on us. Check our website for confirmation. Thank you for supporting us. We couldn’t do it without you!
