Rehabilitated turtles return home to the sea

By Staff reports

Wed Jul 30, 2008, 02:00 PM EDT

OSTERVILLE -

Five Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles were released on Dowses Beach in the village of Osterville Wednesday. The sea turtles – all juveniles – were found cold-stunned between November 2006 and January 2008, and rescued by volunteers from the Massachusetts Audubon Society Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

Six regional marine animal organizations worked rehabilitation and release: New England Aquarium, National Marine Life Center, University of New England Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Woods Hole Science Aquarium, and the Riverhead Foundation.

Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles are the world’s most endangered sea turtle, with only a few thousand breeding females known to exist in the wild. Kemp’s Ridleys are also among the smallest of the sea turtles, with adults weighing up to 100 pounds and reaching about two feet in length. The juveniles being released weigh 10 to 25 pounds. Kemp’s Ridleys range includes the Gulf coasts of Mexico and the United States, and the Atlantic coast of North America.

Late each fall, many juvenile sea turtles feeding in Cape Cod Bay fail to migrate south. Since the turtles are cold-blooded, their bodies assume the temperature of the water around them and they eventually become hypothermic. Some die at sea while others drift to shore. Volunteers from Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary rescue the turtles along the beach and transport them to rehabilitation centers. There the turtles are slowly warmed and treated for complications of hypothermia, including pneumonia and bone and joint problems. Sea turtle stranding season lasts from late October through December.

“Saving these critically endangered animals is essential to ocean conservation. We’re thrilled to be working alongside institutions such as the New England Aquarium, Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center, MassAudubon, Riverhead, and NOAA in the fight to save stranded sea turtles on Cape Cod” said Kathy Zagzebski, NMLC President and executive director.

Two of the turtles will be tagged prior to release to gather information about their post-release behavior, survival, migration and habitat, and to see how the rehabilitation techniques affect the turtles in the wild. “Lavender” is being fitted with a satellite tag that was funded by donors at NMLC’s 2007 Mermaid Ball fundraising gala. “Scooby Doo” will be fitted with a tag generously provided by the Riverhead Foundation. The satellite tags, which weigh less than 2 ounces, are attached to the turtles’ shells just behind their necks. Physical identification tags are also placed on the turtles’ flippers and a PIT tag just under their skin. The public may follow the turtles’ progress at www.seaturtle.org/tracking

Source: Wicked Local

Sea Turtle Hospital

Sea Turtle Hospital News

Karen Sota

July 30, 2008 - 11:16AM

She's got turtles on the Brame

At first she was as quiet as a mouse. But we soon found out that this little mouse can roar, especially when she's educating our visitors about our sea turtles. Intern Bailey Brame's family has a home on the island, so her prior experience with our hospital was that of a typical island visitor, taking a tour during our open house. But as anyone who has spent time on Topsail will tell you, through some kind of weird osmosis, sea turtles get into your blood. During her visits Bailey began closely observing the coastal surroundings and the particular stresses that the turtles were confronting, wondering what she could do to help. It was her concern about the environment and her desire to work for a non-profit that led her to our internship.

A twenty-minute tour doesn't accurately reflect the effort that goes on behind the scenes, and Bailey was amazed at the amount of hands-on work that's required to get our turtles healthy and ready for their adoring public. Even more surprising to her was that fact that she was given a lot of responsibility from her first day. Her favorite turtle is "Boater" who was admitted last fall with horrific propeller wounds. Boater is quite a challenge. After being plated and screwed back together at the vet school most of his wounds are healed. But there's still one very deep hole that requires about an hour of precise and patient flushing and packing. Obviously it's been time well spent, as Bailey reports the hole is finally beginning to show signs of healing.

Bailey was on-hand for our June release, and is thrilled to know that Boater will someday be taking that short ride to the beach. She's especially proud of how her fellow interns all "kick into high gear" for incoming turtles, focusing and working together to get the turtle cleaned, medicated and settled into a tank to begin the healing process.

Bailey is astounded at the enormous fan base our turtles have, drawing huge crowds to the hospital during the five days we open during the week. Once there you'll find her wearing many hats: greeter, crowd control and behind the tank telling the story of a patient. When she's not at the hospital she's a pretty low-maintenance type of gal: reading, sewing, knitting and cooking. In a few short weeks this Durham native returns Wellesley College in Massachusetts as a junior majoring in Economics, knowing now that sea turtles are priceless.

Topsail Turtle Project

The Turtle Project coordinators have a new project, and we have you all to thank for making us aware of this need. We get a lot of questions on the beach and at the hospital about sea turtle etiquette (not the turtles, their manners are just fine!)

Everyone wants to do the right thing by our turtles, so we've created a flyer explaining all the stuff you need to know to co-exist with our island's oldest visitors. Our beach crew visited local real estate/ property management groups to ask that they include this information in their rental packages. We'd like to thank the following for their support in doing so: Century 21, Treasure Realty, Island Realty, Intracoastal Realty and Coldwell Banker Coastline Realty.

If our volunteers have inadvertently overlooked you (it's possible, with so many places renting units) call Gayle Childress at (910) 328-7116 who will gladly supply you with whatever you need.

Our sea turtle mamas continue to bust their carapaces laying nests. Visit our website to see just how hard they're working: www.seaturtlehospital.org. Please report all sea turtle activity (nestings, strandings, injured turtles or hatchings) to our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer at 910-470-2880.

Hospital open house

Our record-breaking crowds continue, although recent donations have been, to put it kindly, puzzling. Come on folks! Where else can you see a sea turtle without forking over big bucks, and even big bucks won't get you as up close and personal as you'll be at our hospital. We know the economy is tanking, and everyone is cutting back. But really, if you come through with your family of eight and don't even throw a few dollars in the donation jar - well - there is such a thing as karma. But to those of you "picking up the slack," outfitting your family in our T-shirts, or throwing in the $20s and even $100 bills - God bless you for your generosity!

We open daily from 2 to 4 p.m., except Wednesday and Sunday, through August. Our gift shop is also open during those hours. We occasionally close without notice for incoming turtles and dangerous weather conditions, but generally for only a short period of time. Please note that two incorrect phone numbers appear in various places in the "Coaster" magazine: the correct number for reporting turtle activity/strandings is: 910-470-2880. The correct number for the hospital is: 910-328-3377.

Last month for Turtle Talks

Turtle Talks continue every Wednesday through August. This one-hour presentation, 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. is chock full of visuals and handouts that are appropriate for ages K-adult. Cameras are welcome and there'll be plenty of great photo ops. The site is the Surf City Community Center, JH Batts Rd. (off Rt. 210 between Docksider and Gilligans.) Admission is free but donations for our turtles are appreciated. Please leave food and drinks in the car. For more information call the hospital at: 910-328-3377.

Yard Sale just around the corner.

We're gearing up for our Labor Day Weekend Yard Sale. I'll give you the 411 as soon as it's finalized.

Questions, comments or suggestions for stories

Contact me at: flippers@embarqmail.com.

Karen Sota is the volunteer media coordinator for the Sea Turtle Hospital in Topsail Beach.

Source:

http://www.topsailadvertiser.com/articles/news_2408___article.html/sea_turtle.html

Fence shell-ters turtles in traffic

By Renee Nadeau | Sunday, July 27, 2008 |

Photo by Courtesy

Animal advocates are hoping a threatened turtle is in the fast lane to survival thanks to a highway fence erected by volunteers.

Volunteers from Bristol-Myers Squibb in Devens, the state Fish & Wildlife Services and MassHighway erected the fence along a busy highway in central Massachusetts, reducing the turtle mortality rate along the stretch.

That was good news for the Blanding’s turtle, listed as “threatened” by the state’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. “I think it’s clear that this fencing has been a huge success,” said Lori Erb, a MassWildlife biologist.

In 2007, 43 turtles were killed crossing the highway, including five Blanding’s turtles. Volunteer efforts dropped the death toll to a mere four traffic deaths. No Blanding’s turtle was killed by a car.

Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among Blanding’s turtles, a species with a low survival rate among young turtles. The turtles travel to several wetlands between mid-March and October and cross dangerous highways in their travels.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1109303

Wild about Turtles!

Wild about Turtles

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008 at 2 p.m. Children ages 3 and older will meet turtles, learn songs and make a clay turtle.

Naturalist Mary Doane will lead the program.

The Ashby Free Public Library, Main Street in Ashby. Library hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, 1 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and closed Saturday during July and August. For more information or to sign up for a program, call (978) 386-5377.

Turtles at Wachusett Meadow

Sunday July 27, 2008

Turtles at Wachusett Meadow Learn about turtles in the area, 1-3 p.m. Massachusetts Audubon Society adult members, $6; adult nonmembers, $8; child members, $3; child nonmembers, $4.

Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary
113 Goodnow Road
Princeton, MA 01541
978-464-2712

e-mail:
wachusett@massaudubon.org

As endangered turtles wash ashore, scientists get a rare glimpse

By Christopher Baxter, Globe Correspondent | July 24, 2008

CUTTYHUNK ISLAND - Seagulls, strangely absent from this quaint summer getaway, feasted Monday along the rocky shoreline, and Carrie DeArmond and her daughter, Jordan, knew something was amiss.

"There were five or six and then another and another," DeArmond said. "And then I said, 'Oh, my God, would you look at that.' "

Lying in a patch of mud-colored seaweed was one of the ocean's largest, most mysterious reptiles: the leatherback turtle.

"But she smelled," Jordan said. And it was dead, the third of the rare and endangered species to wash ashore in Massachusetts in the past three weeks. Researchers typically see one or two each year.

"You could be a marine biologist for a long time and not come in contact with a leatherback," said Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium. "And we could go another couple years without seeing another."

Word of the 500-pound turtle spread quickly through the island community and among scientists eager to study the carcass for clues about the life of the leatherback. New England Aquarium researchers headed to the island yesterday morning to examine the turtle.

Distinguished by its unusual shell, a soft, vinyl-like skin over laying tiny interlocking bones, with seven ridges running front to back, the leatherback has roamed the world's oceans for about one hundred million years.

Adults can measure as long as 6 1/2 feet and weigh up to 2,000 pounds, and are thought to live for more than 100 years. They spend much of their life close to the ocean surface, feeding on jellyfish, but have been spotted more than 4,000 feet underwater, LaCasse said.

Boat propellers, fishing lines, and beach development contributed to the leatherback's rapid decline between the 1950s and 1980s, LaCasse said. Only an estimated 34,500 females existed worldwide in 1996, according to a report last year by the National Marine Fisheries Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service. The most recent population estimate for the North Atlantic alone ranges between 34,000 and 94,000 adult leatherbacks, the study said.

More than 40 sightings have been recorded in the waters of Nantucket Sound and Vineyard Sound this year, said Connie Merigo, director of the Marine Animal Rescue program at New England Aquarium. But some of those may be the same turtle, Merigo said, and "we don't have an exact number."

This year's first dead turtle was spotted July 3 on Popponesset Beach in Mashpee. The second came ashore July 13 on Ricketson's Point in Dartmouth, and the latest washed up here earlier this week. Researchers say the turtle was probably killed by a boat propeller, but they don't know for sure.

Residents struggled to prevent full-moon tides from reclaiming the leatherback, DeArmond said, and it took seven people tugging at the turtle to keep it from washing away Monday night.

The turtle was eventually tied to an anchor about 20 feet inland and restrained with a small, green net.

The aquarium team had about an hour to analyze the turtle yesterday and collect samples before high tide made work impossible. The leatherback was significantly decayed: Its left side was split open, seagulls had pecked away the eyes, and much of the skin on its back had peeled away.

"It's in pretty bad shape in terms of what we can learn," said Sheila Sinclaire, an aquarium biologist. "We can't even tell for sure whether it's male or female."

Tags on the turtle's front flipper indicate the leatherback originated from the Caribbean, near Trinidad. It appeared to be a young adult, Sinclaire said, but an electronic tag found implanted in its muscle may lead to more information.

Leatherbacks live throughout the world, but this one probably nested in the tropics and followed migrating jellyfish up the US Eastern Seaboard, LaCasse said.

Unlike other cold-blooded animals whose internal temperature changes with their surroundings, the leatherback can moderate its heat and swim into colder waters. And had it not died, it would have returned south, possibly to the same beach where it was born, researchers speculate.

Instead, it landed on the shores of Cuttyhunk, and residents flocked to watch the team of scientists collect samples.

"I've seen sea turtles, but nothing like this," said Ben Snow, 11, who was sitting in a line of friends as biologist Adam Kennedy examined a flipper.

"There was a sense of protectiveness on the island about it," said Kathleen Patton, a summer resident from Milton who questioned researchers about what may have killed the turtle. "We almost wanted to have a little service for it."

© Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Another dead sea turtle washes ashore

Another dead sea turtle washes ashore

By KEVIN P. O'CONNOR
Standard-Times correspondent
July 22, 2008 6:00 AM


A sea turtle washed up on Cuttyhunk on Monday, the third dead leatherback found on the southern coast of Massachusetts this month.

Wildlife experts headed out to the island after receiving a call in the early afternoon, hoping to learn more about the animal and how it died.

"It is a female, about 500 pounds, that was tagged from West Trinidad," said Bob Prescott, sanctuary director for the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

"We are trying to learn as much about it as we can."

The latest dead leatherback follows two of its kind on southern Massachusetts beaches.

Keith Kauppila found one washed up on the rocks in front of his house on Ricketson's Point in Dartmouth on the night of July 13. That came after a day of heavy surf produced by Hurricane Bertha.

Another leatherback was found on Popponesset Beach in Mashpee on July 3.

This is the season for sea turtles. From New Bedford to Provincetown, leatherbacks and loggerheads have been popping up with regularity in the warm waters of Buzzards Bay and the Nantucket Sound.

There could be more of them nearby this year because they were pushed up the coast by Hurricane Bertha. Or it could be people are just seeing them more, wildlife officials say.

"We get called out 15 or 20 times a year to free turtles that get tangled in fishing gear," said Brian Sharp, a rescue associate with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.

"We are getting a lot of calls about turtles this year," Mr. Prescott of the Audubon Society said.

"The water is warm this year. It might be that. We are also told there are a lot of jellyfish (which the turtles eat) in the area. It might be that. But it does appear there are more leatherbacks than usual this year."

In Rhode Island and Connecticut, biologists from the Mystic Aquarium respond to calls of turtles in distress. There have been three dead loggerheads in Rhode Island in July.

"We are getting a few more calls, but not significantly more," said Cindy Davis, a stranding assistant with the Mystic Aquarium. "We get calls from July to October."

There are five types of sea turtles that make their way into these waters in the summer, swimming up from the coast of South America and the Gulf of Mexico, following the Gulf Stream to Cape Cod and sometimes up to Maine.

Leatherbacks are the largest of the group. They weigh 500 to 1,000 pounds. Their backs, 5 feet across, look like the brown bottom of an overturned rowboat.

Loggerheads and Kemp's Ridleys are generally around 30 inches long and 100 pounds. Kemp's Ridleys are often found stranded on the beaches of southern Massachusetts. Green turtles and hawksbills are rare visitors.

None of those turtles is common. All are either listed as endangered or threatened species. And they are not numerous.

"We are getting more calls this year reporting them, but we don't know if that is because people are reporting more and we are getting more calls about the same turtles," Mr. Prescott said. "We believe we have 10 to 15 leatherbacks in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound."

That number was reduced by one some time before July 13.

"I took my dogs out for a walk that night and one of them pointed on something," Mr. Kauppila said. "It was a huge turtle. It has a flipper span of 7 feet. The heavy seas brought it right to my front steps."

Mr. Kauppila got on the phone, eventually reaching the New England Aquarium in Boston, which dispatched a research team to dissect the turtle and collect samples.

"It had very significant propeller wounds to its back, but it is unknown if that happened before or after it died," said Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the New England Aquarium. The turtle was so badly decomposed it could not be determined if it died because it was hit by a boat or if it was run over after it died, he said.

Researchers still learn a lot by examining the turtle. Mr. Prescott said they look for tags — the female found Monday on Cuttyhunk was tagged by biologists in Trinidad when it was a baby, he said.

They also take tissue samples looking for parasites and chemical contaminants and try to examine the content of the animal's stomach to determine how it lived and why it died.

If a living turtle is seen swimming freely, that should be reported to 1-800-SEA-TURT, 1-800-732-8878. Biologists use that information to track migration patterns of the turtles, Mr. Sharp said.

Dead turtles should be reported to the New England Aquarium at (617) 973-5200. If you spot a turtle that is sick or injured or entangled in rope, litter or fishing gear, call the Provincetown Center at 1-800-900-3622.

"We ask people, if they can, to back off 100 or 200 feet and keep the turtle in sight until help arrives," said Mr. Sharp of the Provincetown Center. "We work with harbormasters and the Coast Guard. We can usually respond within an hour or so."

Turtles entangled in rope and fishing gear usually swim away before help arrives, Mr. Sharp said, so boaters are asked to keep the animals in sight so they can direct rescuers to the turtle.

No one should touch the turtles or try to help them, Mr. Sharp said.

"We want to make sure the animal is disentangled properly," he said. "We'll make sure all the lines are freed and we'll provide what veterinary care that we can. We try to maximize the chances the animal will survive."

And they like to see the turtles themselves, Mr. Sharp said.

"We try to get as much data as we can," he said. "Every time we go out, we learn something new."



Source: SouthCoastToday.com