My View: Slow-moving turtles increasingly at risk in our fast-paced world

My View
by Don Lyman

—

Between now and the end of June, female turtles will be leaving their watery hangouts and trekking overland in search of a spot to lay their eggs.

Massachusetts has 10 species of native turtles — painted, snapping, musk, red-bellied, bog, spotted, Blanding's, wood, box, and diamondback terrapins (along with one exotic species, the red-eared slider). Except for the box turtle, which is a terrestrial or land turtle, and the diamondback terrapin, which lives in salt marshes, all of our turtles live in freshwater environments.

From diminutive, 4-inch-long musk turtles to 60-pound snapping turtles, if you live or work near a pond, stream, swamp or other wetland, you're likely to see one of these reptiles crossing a road or parking lot, or digging a nest hole in an open field or vacant lot, or even in your yard.

Nesting habits

Turtle nests consist of a hole in the ground, which female turtles dig with their hind feet. They tend to choose patches of bare soil that is easy to dig in, located in open areas like fields or yards, where the nests will get plenty of sunlight to incubate the eggs.

The conservation officer for a town north of Boston told me recently that Blanding's turtles, which are a threatened species in Massachusetts, like to nest in the sandy soil in the town's soccer field.

During nesting season the part of the soccer field where the turtles dig their nests has to be cordoned off until the baby turtles hatch in late August and early September.

Smaller turtles, like bog or musk turtles, may lay only four or five eggs. Bigger turtles, like Blanding's or snapping turtles, may lay a dozen or more.

After she's finished laying her eggs, the female turtle fills in the nest hole and covers the eggs by pushing the loose soil she's excavated back into the hole with her hind feet. The eggs usually hatch anywhere from two to three months after being laid.

Interestingly, the sex of the hatchlings is determined by temperature, with warmer soil temperatures typically producing female offspring, and cooler soil temperatures producing male offspring, although this can vary depending on the species.

Threats to turtle eggs include mammals like raccoons, skunks, opossums, and rats, which will dig up the nests and eat the eggs, according to Kerry Muldoon, Conservation Commission biologist for the city of New Bedford.

Muldoon says even plants can pose a threat to turtle eggs. She says the roots of beach grass and salt-marsh cordgrass have been known to penetrate and destroy the eggs of diamondback terrapins, which she studied while in graduate school.

Hatchling turtles likewise fall prey to a variety of animals including mammals, birds, and even ants.

Caution: Turtles crossing

Many adult turtles are struck by cars as they cross roads in search of nest sites, or when they attempt to nest in open areas along the edges of roads. Turtles also sometimes nest in the open, sandy soil next to railroad tracks where they may be struck by trains, or become trapped between rails.

Biologist Tim Beaulieu says he found about a dozen or more turtles' nests along a 100-foot section of railroad track behind a small pond while conducting a survey of reptiles and amphibians in a suburban area west of Boston a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, Beaulieu said, all the nests had been destroyed by predators. Additionally, Beaulieu said he found the remains of several painted and snapping turtles trapped between the rails.

"Adult turtles live a long time," according to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife website. "For example, Box Turtles are known to live longer than 100 years. However, because turtle eggs and juvenile turtles have so many predators and must face many other survival difficulties, only a tiny percentage of turtles ever reach adulthood. Therefore, the survival of adult turtles which have been fortunate enough to surmount these obstacles is very important.

"For this reason a turtle must live for many years and reproduce many times in order to replace themselves in their population. Losing any adult turtles, and particularly adult females, is a serious problem that can tragically lead to the eventual local extinction of a population."

The Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, part of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, is working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation on a new program called the Turtle Roadkill Monitoring Project, to locate turtle roadkill hotspots. The goal of the project is to identify and monitor problem road crossing sites for turtles.

These agencies are asking the public's help with this project, which basically entails identifying a potential turtle roadkill hotspot in your town and confirming it with project coordinators; then conducting road surveys at these sites during designated time periods in May and June.

How you can help

In addition to roadkill hotspots, Mass. Fisheries and Wildlife and the Turtle Conservation Project are asking the public to submit information on locations where multiple turtles nest, as well as to report sightings of individual turtles.

If you should find a female turtle nesting in your yard, Mass. Fisheries and Wildlife says the best thing to do is to keep people and animals away from the area until she's done nesting, which can take several hours.

Also, remember that turtles can deliver a painful bite, and in the case of large snapping turtles, can even inflict serious wounds.

Half a dozen of Massachusetts' native turtle species are state listed as endangered, threatened, or species of special concern. Other than snapping, painted, and musk turtles, it is illegal to capture and keep wild turtles as pets in Massachusetts.

It's also important never to release store-bought turtles into the wild, as they may transmit diseases to wild turtle populations.

Turtles' role in our ecosystem

Turtles have been around since before the time of the dinosaurs and they play an important role in the environment as predators, herbivores, and prey.

"Aquatic turtles often represent a very high proportion of animal biomass in wetlands they occupy, therefore making them very important in wetland food webs," according to Dr. Hal Avery, biology professor and turtle researcher at Drexel University in Philadelphia. "Turtles occupy many trophic levels (an organism's feeding position in a food web) from primary consumers (herbivores) to top carnivores."

Turtles also play an important role in limiting herbivore populations, according to Avery, which helps maintain the stability of entire ecosystems and ecological communities.

"For example," says Avery, "without diamondback terrapins, Spartina (the dominant salt-marsh plant) salt marshes would be overgrazed and lost to mollusc grazers."

Professor Avery and his colleague, Professor Jim Spotila, and other researchers from Drexel University, in conjunction with volunteers, coordinated through the nonprofit organization Earthwatch, have been conducting a long-term research project at Barnegat Bay, N.J., for several years now, studying the ecology of diamondback terrapins, and the effects of human impacts on these turtles. The researchers are discovering that commercial fishing, shoreline development, pollution, the hazards of roads and motor vehicles, and even boat noise, all take their toll on turtles.

"Because they occupy some of the most biologically diverse and productive ecosystems in the world", says Avery, "and because they utilize aquatic and terrestrial habitats within these ecosystems, aquatic turtles are paramount indicators of ecosystem function, making them important model organisms to study in conservation biology."

Unfortunately many species of turtles are threatened due to habitat destruction, pollution, roads, and other hazards.

But research being carried out by scientists, as well as programs like those being conducted by Mass. Fisheries and Wildlife, and citizen involvement in turtle conservation efforts, can help ensure that turtles will continue to be around to play their important role in the environment, and for future generations to observe and enjoy as part of our natural heritage.

• • •

Don Lyman is an adjunct instructor of biology at Merrimack College in North Andover. A Wilmington resident, he is also a pharmacist who works part-time at Beverly Hospital. Readers can obtain more information on the Massachusetts Turtle Roadkill Monitoring Project at www.linkinglandscapes.com, and on the Turtle Conservation Project at www.turtleatlas.org.


Source: The Salem News

A Protective Shell

Turtles rescued from the Cape remain safe at the aquarium while officials keep an eye on oil spill in Gulf, their eventual home
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff May 24, 2010

They were the unlucky ones: close to 200 critically endangered and frozen Kemp’s ridley turtles plucked from Cape Cod beaches by volunteers last winter. Most died, but more than two dozen have spent months recovering from pneumonia and other complications in marine intensive care units around the Northeast.

Now those Kemp’s ridley survivors just may be the most fortunate of their species. The unfolding Gulf of Mexico oil leak is on track to deeply pollute estuaries and coastal bays where Kemp’s ridleys live. Two turtles have been found covered with oil and are being treated now in Louisiana, and environmental officials expect more in the weeks to come.

Officials at the New England Aquarium had planned to release about a dozen of the dinner-plate-sized turtles in the Gulf last month, until the massive British Petroleum leak disrupted their plans. Then a contingency idea to release the animals off South Carolina was also put on hold after signs emerged that the oil may be rounding Florida and heading up the East Coast.

“I don’t want to release them into a questionable environment at this stage,’’ said Connie Merigo, director of the Aquarium’s Rescue and Rehab program. “It’s safer for them in a controlled environment. We are controlling their water temperature, nutrition, medical condition, everything. We’re going to keep them safe here for now.’’

While environmental officials are worried about all Gulf wildlife, they are especially concerned about Kemp’s ridley turtles. Breeding pairs number only in the thousands, and the animals with the dark-colored shells are considered one of the smallest, and the world’s most endangered, sea turtles. The turtles primarily nest on certain Mexican beaches, but there is also a small nesting site in Texas.

The turtles were once abundant, but consumption of turtle eggs as an aphrodisiac and entanglement in fishing gear caused their population to plummet. The outlawing of turtle egg harvests, protection against poachers, and the development of turtle-friendly fishing gear have helped the population start a rebound: More than 7,000 females nested last year.

By yesterday in the Gulf, 207 turtles, most dead, had been found in the oil spill area. Only three, including the two Kemp’s ridleys, were clearly harmed by the oil; they are alive and being treated, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokeswoman. Turtles frequently wash ashore this time of year, and it is not clear if the numbers officials are seeing are part of this annual occurrence or are somehow related to the spill.

Cape Cod has long had a connection to the tiny turtles. Every year, the Kemp’s ridleys come north to feed on crabs and other marine life off the Cape. For reasons no one completely understands, some do not start paddling south before the cold hits. Because the turtles are cold-blooded, the drop in water temperature robs them of the ability to move. Unable to paddle their flippers or even to feed, they are at the mercy of ocean currents and wash up on shore when a strong wind blows.

For years, volunteers on Cape Cod have walked the beaches on winter days looking for Kemp’s ridleys and other turtles. This past year, 187 ridleys were found, according to Bob Prescott of Massachusetts Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

Most were dead or died soon afterward, but 52 were sent to the New England Aquarium, which took most in and sent the rest to other rehab clinics.

Now, Merigo said she will probably hold the Aquarium turtles until Cape Cod waters warm up and release them this summer. That would be the best way to ensure they avoid any oil.

Today, 13 ridleys are ready to be released as well as three green sea turtles and Merigo expects more will be ready by August. Holding them until then is not expected to harm them, she said.

The Aquarium has long released turtles off New England. But this year’s planned release off Louisiana was designed to reinstitute an annual ritual interrupted by Hurricane Katrina. It remains to be seen what will become of the turtles in the Gulf.

Prescott asked: “Will the oil knock out the whole food web?’’ He said the true Gulf impact will be seen in future winters on Cape Cod. “We usually see 2- or 3-year-old turtles up here getting caught in the winters,’’ Prescott said. “Will it be this eerie no-ridley coastline?’’

Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@globe.com.

Source: Boston.com

Turtle Crossing Surveying in Berkshire County

Turtle Watch Training

Join Jane Winn of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) on Saturday, May 15th from 10 to noon at Dan Casey Memorial Causeway in Pittsfield to learn to monitor a stretch of road for evidence of turtles crossing. We will look at the species of turtles found in our area, how to monitor, and how to document and report our findings. Jane will have maps of locations that need monitoring, or if you know of a location where you have seen turtles cross in the past, you may choose to monitor there.

Monitoring will be four times in 2010 - 1) once during the last week of May, 2) once during the second week of June, 3) once during the last week of June, and 4) once during the first two weeks of September. In September we will enter our data into the statewide database.

Also join them this Friday, May 7th - a group of will be meeting at 1pm at Lake Garfield Beach to figure out how to survey for turtles on Tyringham Road by Lake Garfield.

More information here: http://linkinglandscapes.info/roads/volunteer_to_monitor.html

And here: http://www.thebeatnews.org/index.html

Endangered turtles south of Boston raised by volunteers and schools

This young northern red-bellied cooter is spending the winter in a tank at Hingham High School.

(Molly A.K. Connors for The Boston Globe)

Playing more than just shell games

By Molly A.K. Connors, Globe Correspondent

They don’t have the height of the Celtics they’re named for, but Garnett, Pierce, and Allen — who live in a 30-gallon plastic tub at Hingham High School — share those athletes’ fierce determination, and by the end of the year, they, too, will be a lot bigger than most in their age group.

Taken as hatchlings from their nests last fall, these northern red-bellied cooters are part of a “head-start” program that pairs about 120 endangered turtles each year with volunteers who care for them through the winter, then return them to their natural habitat in the spring.

The goal of the statewide program, established in 1984, is to speed baby cooters, also known as Plymouth red-bellied turtles, through the early life stages, when they are most vulnerable to predators.

“Hatchlings are just snack food for everything out there,” said Thomas French, assistant director at the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

So, while their peers born last fall have slowed down their metabolism enough to survive the winter, nestled in mud far beneath the ice covering their ponds, these Celtics are spending the winter chomping on lettuce at Hingham High and basking in 88-degree water, which speeds their metabolism and growth.

When released, they will have grown from the size of a quarter to the size of a grapefruit, or about that of a 4- or 5-year-old cooter. Back in their habitat, they continue growing until their shells are 12 to 14 inches long.

“When you head-start them, most of them survive to become adults,” French said.

In fact, French said, the program, which started when the cooter population had dropped to about 300 statewide, has successfully head-started about 3,300 turtles, who live for at least a decade before they can breed; they are tracked by notches carved into their shells.

“We are now head-starting the babies of animals we’ve head-started,” French said.

Participants say the program is successful not only because it has prevented the extinction of an endangered species but because it educates the public about vulnerable creatures in the state.

“I didn’t know we had endangered species in the state,” said Sarah Whitman, a 17-year-old senior at Hingham High School, who uses her free period each morning to tend to the food and water needs of Garnett, Pierce, and Allen.

“It’s affected everyone in the science classrooms around here,” said Dawn Diedricksen, a Hingham High science teacher who began headstarting cooters last year after she received a grant from the Curriculum Leadership Center at Bridgewater State College.

The program’s administrators and volunteers, called coordinators, say they have learned a lot over the past 25 years.

“It was very much a kitchen-table sort of thing” at first, said Dave Taylor, the program coordinator for the cooters and a retired teacher who head-started turtles in his classroom at Triton High School in Byfield.

Taylor says he began collecting monthly weight and length measurements from the coordinators in the late 1980s. “I learned that if you have 20 organizations raising the turtles, that the weights from some could be double the weights and sizes of others,” Taylor said.

The numbers he gathered and organized allowed the program to develop a protocol to care for the animals.

“This has a lot to do with the water temperature,” said Taylor. “It’s really remarkable. If the temperature is even 10 degrees cooler, these turtles won’t grow at all.”

Taylor says he spends about five to 10 hours each month monitoring the turtles’ growth and intervening when he thinks the turtles aren’t growing quickly enough.

The 120 cooters Taylor monitors are housed at several locales south of Boston, including Quincy High School, Norfolk County Agricultural High School in Walpole, and the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford.

The cost of head-starting is fairly low, said French — volunteers need tanks and lettuce.

But these turtles eat a lot of lettuce — by spring, each one will need at least a head of lettuce a day. In Hingham, Diedricksen is using the last of her grant money to buy the romaine. But many other coordinators, including the South Shore Natural Science Center in Norwell, get grocery stores to donate their discarded leafy greens, which is good enough for cooter consumption.

The bigger issue is the coordinators’ time, since the water needs to be replaced every day and the turtles must be measured every week.

For Diedricksen, that often means coming in to school on weekends. For her students, it has meant bringing the cooters — and their 30-gallon tank, complete with a pig blanket to heat the water — home over the Christmas and February vacations.

Whitman, who plans to study marine biology at UMass Dartmouth this fall, said she doesn’t mind.

“My mom loves them,” said Whitman. “She sits there and talks to them.”

The head-started turtles come from a pond in Carver. French, citing concerns that humans might take the rare turtles from their nests, declined to be more specific.

“Turtles are unique,” said French. “I don’t know any other animal that people routinely take out of the wild and bring home.’’

The cooters are one of 17 species in Massachusetts that are federally recognized as endangered. Very few animals are good candidates for head-starting, said French, but the cooters work well because they do not depend on learned behaviors; they are hard-wired to - for the leafy greens.

But as much as the participants enjoy interacting with the turtles, protecting habitats is the most effective way to protect a species, said French.

“Our first line of approach is habitat management,” French said.

But for now, because it’s so successful and relatively inexpensive, head-starting will continue, which suits Whitman just fine.

“I want them to be around.”

Source: Boston.com

Molly A.K. Connors can be reached at mollyakconnors@gmail.com.

Revere DCR offers beach program

By Laura Paine / For the Item

REVERE - The Department of Conservation and Recreation is working to get families into the fresh air and off to the various state parks throughout Massachusetts, even if it means spending an hour in February's 35-degree weather on Revere Beach.

On Wednesday, Matthew Nash, the northern region visitor services supervisor for the Division of Urban Parks and Recreation, rolled a box of props onto the sand for DCR's Beach Discovery program, which is a part of February Vacation at Revere Beach.

"The program is on the ecology of the beach and also the need to keep it clean," Nash said. "That's an important message we convey in that it's a home for animals and it needs to be kept clean. We are going to be learning about the animals that live in the sand on the beach and come to the beach like the various gulls, animals with shells, like the surf clam, and the animals like a rock clam that actually have a life under the sand on the beach that we're walking on. We won't be digging up the sand disturbing them, we'll be looking for the shells that are left on the beach."

The DCR started the No Child Left Inside initiative hoping to encourage Massachusetts residents and visitors to enjoy the recreational resources and outdoor activities in the state parks from Cape Cod to Boston and the Berkshire Hills. They frequently offer free programs that are open to the public, schools and non-profit groups alike.

"It's important because we have generations now that are inside with computers not getting adequate exercise for health so it's a campaign to get people outside to enjoy the parks and get proper exercise for their health," Nash said.

There were five participants in Wednesday's Beach Discovery program, including Anna Colligan of Boston and her sons Kao Moy, 6, and Ezra Moy, 3.

Colligan said she "just (wanted) to get outside and learn about some local nature."

Nash gave lessons on the surf and razor clams, showing the children the shells and asking them to find their own, or pieces of the shells, on the beach. He talked about the ring billed seagull that sat on the sand beside what he believed to be a herring seagull and moved on to discuss the shells of the crabs he found, including lady and rock crabs. He also found a shell that once belonged to the invasive green crab, which he said is not native to the U.S. and feeds on the clams and oysters our fishermen hope to catch and sell.

Maylin Canales, 6, of Chelsea said that she learned a lot about crabs and clams, but her favorite part was playing the game of tag.

After the game, Nash told the kids why it is important to keep the beach clean, explaining that seals can get tangled in ropes and strings and that turtles could confuse plastic bottles with food. He asked what they should do with their bottles when they go on beach picnics, and Kao Moy said they should recycle.

The kids left with passports that allow them to get stamps at each park they visit and Canales' mother, Holly Brooksbank, said it is a good program.

"I like to get my daughter outside and I believe that anything to do with learning is very good for any child and it was very informative today," she said, adding she plans to take Canales to the Bird Discovery program as well as to the Beach Campfire on Friday for some toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate.

The program continues today with a Bird Discovery event from 11-noon and the Beach Campfire on Friday runs from 6-8 p.m. Participants will gather at the Reinstein Bandstand on Revere Beach Boulevard (cross streets are Shirley Avenue and Beach Street) for each of these programs.

Cleanup at the Willis Fishing Pier will take place on Feb. 28 from 2-4 p.m. Participants will meet near the 'jug-handle' turn-around, northbound side of the Lynnway, just north of the General Edwards Bridge in Lynn. For GPS users, the address is 810 Lynnway, Lynn.

For a list of other events throughout the state, visit the Department of Conservation and Recreation online atwww.mass.gov/dcr/events.htm

Source: http://www.thedailyitemoflynn.com/articles/2010/02/18/news/news12.txt

Patty the turtle continues slow recovery

Wicked Local photo/Ruth Thompson

By Ruth Thompson

Gatehouse News Service

BUZZARDS BAY —

It’s been almost a year since Patty was brought to the National Marine Life Center (NMLC) in a state best described as close to death. And she’s still going strong, despite some new challenges, thanks to the marine animal hospital being able to house and sustain her.

Patty is a diamondback terrapin turtle. Diamondback terrapins are on the Massachusetts endangered species list, which makes Patty’s recovy all that more imperative.

When she arrived last March at the NMLC, she had been immobilized by shock, blinded by burst blood vessels in her eyes and her rear legs were partially paralyzed.

Her ailments were the result of being cold stunned, which is caused by exposure to the cold winter weather.

Diamondback terrapins go into a state of hibernation over the winter, but if their burrows are disturbed, they are left vulnerable to the elements.

Turtles that are cold stunned often die.

It was fortunate that the NMLC was able to accommodate Patty. Veterinarians treated her with antibiotics, she received physical therapy to help her regain the use of her hind legs and there was plenty of food, rest and relaxation to build up her strength.

The goal of the NMLC is to allow the animals in their care to fully recuperate and then be released back into the wild.

That had been the intention with Patty, but she still remains at the NMLC.

“She doing really well,” NMLC President and Executive Director Kathy Zagzebski said. “Her attitude is great. She’s eating well, and her vision is fully restored.”

Unfortunately, Zagzebski said Patty has developed a very serious bone infection.

“She’s lost portions of her shell,” Zagzebski said, “but there’s new shell underneath.”

Zagzebski said the condition has been seen before in turtles that have been cold stunned.

Patty, however, is taking things in stride.

She is enjoying the luxury of her own tank at the clinic and is again being given antibiotics. She is scrubbed down daily to help remove the dead shell and prevent infection, and then an antibiotic-laced dressing is placed over her shell.

“Every single day we completely change the water in her tank and clean the rocks off so that there is nothing in her environment making her sick,” Zagzebski said.

Trained volunteers perform many of these tasks.

“She’s really engaging,” Zagzebski said. “She has a great personality, though she has her moods. Everyone enjoys her.”

Patty’s rear legs are getting stronger, and Zagzebski said her “mobility is much better, but she failed her swim test.”

And while Zagzebski would still like to see Patty one day sent back to her real home, there’s no rush for her to leave the NMLC.

“It will take some time for the bone to grow back,” Zagzebski said. “But she’ll be all right, she’s a fighter.”

In good company

Patty isn’t the only turtle in residence at the NMLC.

There are currently two species of juveniles being tended to, as well.

Around the corner and down the hall from Patty’s private sanctuary are a group of eight northern red-bellied cooters and a group of eight diamondback terrapins, like Patty but only younger and smaller.

The northern red-bellied cooters are kept in a large tank together, while the diamondback terrapins, most no bigger than a quarter, are kept segregated from each other because they’re more aggressive towards one another.

The red-bellies are part of a state program to help recover their population.

“The Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program runs a ‘headstart’ program,” Zagzebski said. “They collect 100 hatchlings a year and places them in partner organizations – wildlife centers, zoos, schools. Partner organizations care for the turtles over the winter following specific protocols. During this time, the turtles put on the equivalent of three years of growth, so that when they are released, they are significantly more likely to survive.”

Zagzebski said around Memorial Day weekend, the NMLC and the other partners will turn the turtles back over to the state, at which point they will be measured and examined before they are released.

The public is invited to the release.

The red-bellies are approximately 4 months old, and the diamondbacks are about 3 months.

Zagzebski said the diamondback terrapins don’t grow as quickly as the red-bellies.

“The reason we have (the diamondbacks) is because they did not hatch early enough to survive the winter,” Zagzebski said. “Their nest wasn’t hatching.”

They finally hatched at the home of Don “the turtle guy” Lewis before being brought to the NMLC.

They’ll be a bit stronger and healthier than their brothers and sisters who hatched in the wild. That’s because the turtles in the wild slept in the mud all winter, while the little guys at the NMLC were pampered and well fed.

The tiny turtles are tended to by volunteers who assist in everything from feeding them and recording changes in their size to cleaning up their tanks.

Lori and Tim Benson of Onset are charged with weighing and measuring the red-belles and then carefully photographing the turtles and logging in the information.

“We want to ensure the red bellies are growing at a rate that will allow them to be at least 85 millimeters upon release,” Zagzebski said. “We don’t want them to grow too quickly, however, because that can have negative health effects. By measuring and weighing the turtles weekly, we can chart their progress and compare to other years of our data, as well as to data of other partners, to ensure the animals are growing at an acceptable rate.”

Kathryn Biscoe of Buzzards Bay feeds the diamondback terrapins.

“Volunteering is fun,” she said. “I have some free time on my hands and come down here two days a week. I love all kinds of animals, anything from a worm to a rhinoceros.”

Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/rochester/news/lifestyle/x1920346961/Patty-the-turtle-continues-slow-recovery

National Marine Life Center seeking financial support to complete project

Wicked Local photo/Ruth Thompson

By Ruth Thompson

Gatehouse News Service

BUZZARDS BAY —

There’s progress being made on the new National Marine Life Center (NMLC) marine animal hospital, and the sea turtle ward is nearly complete.

But work on the Buzzards Bay facility had to be halted due to lack of funding.

“There were some costs that were higher than expected,” NMLC President and Executive Director Kathy Zagzebski said. “Right now, we’re trying to raise about $91,000 for the turtle ward.”

She said the NMLC has already raised approximately $102,000 thanks to donations and fundraisers.

NMLC is a nonprofit marine animal hospital. Their goal is to rehabilitate stranded or injured sea turtles, seals, dolphins, porpoises and small whales. Once healthy and able to fend for themselves, the animals will be released back into the wild.

There is a crucial need for a marine animal hospital in this area.

According to Zagzebski, the 2009-2010 sea turtle-stranding season is the third busiest year on record. Close to 200 sea turtles have stranded on Cape Cod to date. Most are found suffering from cold stunning, a condition caused by exposure to frigid temperatures.

Without proper treatment, the turtles will die.

Zagzebski said nearly 99 percent of all stranded marine animals along Cape Cod and the shores of Southeastern Massachusetts will perish simply because there is no place to take them to be cared for and brought back to health.

“The New England Aquarium has a number of tanks for turtles, but nothing for the larger animals,” Zagzebski said. “It’s really important to have a facility for the animals here, where they strand.”

NMLC admitted its first patient, a loggerhead sea turtle named Eco, in 2004.

Eco had been suffering the effects of being cold stunned and had initially been treated at the New England Aquarium before being transferred to the NMLC.

After regular health checks and rehabilitation, Eco was returned in good health back to the wild.

The NMLC began to quickly outgrow the space in their existing building. The lack of adequate square footage, coupled with severe and irreversible structural conditions such as a collapsing roof, left no other alternative but to vacate the building, and so began an extensive campaign to raise funds for the new hospital and research building.

The hospital will be completed in phases, with the turtle ward being the first phase.

And while Zagzebski said the ward is “nearly 90 percent done,” there is still some major work ahead, including connecting the life support system and completing the plumbing, electricity and sprinkler system installation. A staircase leading up to the mezzanine level needs to be finished, and the main wall needs to be closed up to keep the building weather-tight and secure.

She praised the contractors working on the hospital for helping to keep the costs down.

“They’ve been fabulous,” she said. “Several are donors, as well, and have not only donated time and materials but have written out a check, as well.”

The new building will boast state-of-the-art equipment designed to provide the best possible care for patients.

The front north-facing wall will be comprised of a material called Extech, which is polycarbonate plastic.

“This translucent material allows natural light into the hospital, thus reducing stress on the animals and promoting healing. It will be like having one big window,” Zagzebski said.

The warmth and the light coming in through this “window” will be a benefit for the animals in the hospital.

Another important point about the hospital is that the option to quarantine animals in certain rooms or in certain pools is available because each pool will have its own filtration system.

Zagzebski said the hospital would be able to utilize the various tanks for more than one species.

For example, in addition to the turtles, seals could possibly be kept in tanks in the turtle ward.

She said the primary focus right now is on the turtle ward.

This ward will consist of six tanks total: two 12 feet in diameter and 5-feet-deep tanks, three 10 feet in diameter and 4-feet-deep tanks and one six feet in diameter and 4-feet-deep tank.

“Depending on the size of the turtle, we could feasibly take as many as 40 turtles in this space,” she said.

Three of the tanks in the turtle ward were partially donated. One tank was completely donated.

Design of the ward will allow for pipes and pumps to be concealed beneath the raised floor of the hospital, which would free up much-needed space.

Zagzebski said once the turtle ward is complete and open to animals, “we will shift our focus to the seal wards, then the dolphin pools.”

She said the larger pool could even hold a manatee, if the need arose.

“We’re building in a lot of flexibility with the pools when we can,” she said. “You never know what Mother Nature will bring.”

The largest tank (46 by 30 feet and 12-feet deep, almost 90,000 gallons) will be able to hold up to four dolphins, up to two porpoises or up to two pilot whales.

The second largest tank (30-feet round and 8-feet deep, almost 32,000 gallons) will be able to hold up to two dolphins or one porpoise.

“Just as an aside, although porpoises are smaller than dolphins, they are more solitary animals, thus they need more space,” she said.

Eventually, the clinic, which is now housed in the adjacent building, will be moving over to the larger hospital facility.

The second floor mezzanine will allow for veterinarians’ offices and lab space for the vets and the scientists. There will also be a conference room for meetings and educational programs.

“It’s exciting to see how far we’ve come,” she said. “Once we get the rest of the funding, it should only take about six weeks for the turtle ward to be able to start accepting patients. We’re so close.”

Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/rochester/features/x231964749/National-Marine-Life-Center-seeking-financial-support-to-complete-project