Sapphire’s Rescuers

As she arrived at the hospital, the rehab staff were amused at the “skirt” she seemed to be wearing on the lower end of her carapace from all the epibiota that had developed while she had obviously been floating at the surface for multiple weeks and maybe even months.

We took measurements, shot xrays, and drew blood on Sapphire before putting her in her freshwater bath to remove all of her shell growth.  While she was being scrubbed down, a large crack and deformity in the back end of her carapace began to become evident.  This turtle had obviously suffered from some type of propeller injury in her past and her shell had actually completely healed on its own from that injury.  Although the left rear end of her carapace was completely missing and the right rear end had been pushed downward toward her tail, Sapphire still has full mobility in both of her back flippers.

Sapphire’s infamous “skirt”

Upon Sapphire’s admittance it was noticed that this turtle had already been seen by a government organization or another hospital due to the metal flipper tag on each of her flippers.  Florida Fish and Wildlife Officer, Sue Schaf (who also helped with the turtle’s admittance) traced back the tag number to reveal that Sapphire had actually been admitted here at the Turtle Hospital in February of 2010!  Sapphire, who was then named Leoni, was found floating offshore of Islamorada with this same old propeller wound in the back of her carapace.  She had some air buildup in her body cavity, but within the following weeks she began to fully submerge herself below the surface and was released a month and a half later.

Currently, Sapphire is still floating with the rear end of her carapace in the water.  Her behavior will be closely monitored but xrays have revealed an impaction of crab and lobster shells built up in her stomach and intestines that might be causing her to float.  Her diet is currently being supplemented with vegetable oil to help lubricate her GI tract and help to get things digesting properly again.  Hopefully, when she has passed all of this digestive material she will no longer float and can be released back into the wild.  Stay posted for updates on Sapphire!

Rehabilitation Specialist, Devin Merriman, scrubbing Sapphire in her freshwater bath

Burt and his daughter decided to name the turtle ‘Chelsea’, since turtles are of the Family ‘Cheloniidae’ and this turtle was found in the ‘sea’. Poor Chelsea had been floating and lethargic for weeks. Her head has been rubbed down to the bone, likely from rubbing on her shell as she breathed while floating at the surface. Her carapace was also matted in a thick coat of algae, almost looking like she had fur!

Fresh water bath, half complete

When a blood sample was tested, we could not believe that this turtle was still alive, yet she was actually flapping around in her kiddie pool. A test of her packed cell volume, or proportion of her blood that is red blood cells, came back as 1! A healthy turtle would be between 20-30, so we immediately began iron injections and antibiotics. We were also able to get Chelsea cleaned up, have x-rays, and moved to a hospital tank where she began to eat right away!

This turtle is a great example for why reptiles are so amazing and the extremes that they are able to survive in the wild. Chelsea held on for a long time but likely wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for Burt’s rescue, a big thanks to Burt and Steve for bringing in this turtle!

Elsa was very responsive and appeared to be in good body condition which was a pleasant surprise. Many turtles afflicted by FP become so emaciated and debilitated due to the tumor growths which wasn’t the case here. After removing leaches and leach eggs in fresh water bath, ‘Elsa’ as Ryan named her, was put in a hospital tank and immediately began eating some squid. When blood chemistry results improve, Elsa will be healthy enough to undergo surgery.

Tom gets the turtle settled in for the ride to the hospital

The Turtle Hospital is extremely thankful to Ryan of Key West Tarpon Guides for finding and rescuing the juvenile Green turtle. We were also lucky enough to have the help of Tom and the Key West Wildlife Center for retrieving the turtle from the boat and keeping her comfortable until we were able to arrive. Check back for updates on Elsa!

Stinger resting in the her tank

After Stinger’s arrival we only had a few hours before the phone was ringing again with a call about a floating turtle near the Dolphin Research Center.  The next turtle we received was ‘Charley’, a 5 lbs. loggerhead extremely rare in these waters.  Loggerheads Charley’s size are not typical in this area and are usually floating in currents for the first couple years of their life feeding on the sargassum, they then return back to our waters as sub adults.  Since Charley’s arrival we have found out that he was first in Columbia as a hatchling.  Charley was kept by a university for about 11 months as part of the head start program and then tagged and released.  X-rays showed this small loggerhead has eaten some trash and has since started to pass that plastic.

Little loggerhead Charley in his tank

The last rescue of the four day streak came to us from Geiger Key Marina.  This 23 lbs. green sea turtle was seen near Geiger Key Marina floating and lethargic with a heavy tumor load including tumors on both eyes.  Edward, who works at the kayak outfitters at the marina reported the turtle and waited with her for a couple hours while we made the drive down.  When we arrived the green was very lethargic but had a strong heart rate.  She was loaded into the van and made the trip back to Marathon.  After further inspection the turtle not only had FP tumors stealing blood but also thousands of saltwater leeches.  After X-rays and blood work ‘Lonely George’ went into a freshwater bath to kill all her unwanted guests.  Lonely George is now leech free and in a tank.  The turtle is occasionally eating squid and receiving fluids to insure she stays hydrated.  Lonely George has quite a few tumors so she has a few surgeries ahead of her.

With no boat, Kimberly wasn’t able to get out to the turtle but was able to keep a close eye on him. Being an hour away from the turtle, we knew the current would wash the turtle away before we could get there. Luckily, the turtle was starting to drift right in front of the US Coast Guard Station! Rehabber Matt Brochhausen talked to Sara Maehr of the Coast Guard just as a Coast Guard Auxillary Team was returning to the dock after a training exercise. It was perfect timing as the team of David Gross, Patti Gross, Chris Matthews, Jim Matthews and Chris Carlsen eagerly agreed to head back out to find Taco! Coast Guardsmen Nick Vogele and Sarah Maehr joined in and they were immediately able to spot the turtle.

Patti Gross was onboard for the rescue and was able to describe what happened from there. ‘He was floating on one side and was struggling to descend, and when he did, he could only descend about 2 to 3 feet and then immediately floated back to the surface.  You could see that his shell had not been hit by a propeller, so he must have had gas that was prevented him from swimming.  The current was carrying him out through the creek into open ocean as the crew tried to figure out how to get him onto the back of the boat, while moving through the current without injury to the turtle or the boat and to keep all of the curious onlookers from getting too close and running over Taco when he would randomly pop back up to the surface.

‘The current carried him under the bridge and Coxswain David Gross had to make the decision to drive through under the bridge while Taco was carried through another opening and hope that when he came through he was not in water that was too shallow to negotiate the boat.

‘As the Team was carried onto the ocean side of Snake Creek, FWC Officer Scott LaRosa appeared. He had heard the call on the radio and came to assist if possible and/or necessary.

After several failed attempts to capture Taco, it became quite apparent that someone was going to have go into the water to safely rescue the turtle; especially since now both rescue boats were in Snake Creek on a busy Sunday afternoon, and it was becoming rather dangerous condition with two boats guarding the turtle as he was being swept by the current into ocean.  Officer LaRosa negotiated the turtle into shallow water where he could safely stop his boat and he courageously entered the water and captured Taco.  He tied a line onto one of his fore-front flippers.  The Auxiliary boat drove over to Officer LaRosa, who passed the line.

‘Taco was guided to the back of the boat and Nick climbed partially down the back ladder and picked up this huge turtle

He had to turn him partially sideways to get him through the opening of the ladder and both rescuer and turtle ended up on their backs, but at least in the transom of the boat!

Other rescuers picked up the turtle just enough to allow Nick to climb out from underneath him and Taco was then turned over. He was exhausted from this experience, but had to cuts or propeller injuries!’ Rehabber Matt drove the ambulance and met the group at the dock. The group had decided to name him ‘Taco’ since it was Cinco de Mayo. The turtle was then transferred to the van for a check-up.

After checking his reflexes and heart rate, it appeared that Taco was slightly underweight but in pretty good shape. At the hospital, a fresh water dip removed the large number of barnacles so that an x-ray could be completed. Staff expected to see a large blockage in the intestines which can cause turtles to float (usually of trash, sponge, or shell fragments) but nothing significant was seen. Taco is still floating in his hospital tank but is active and hungry! The turtle is being treated with antibiotics and is expected to make a full recovery!

All cleaned up, Taco receives fluids and medications in his hospital tank.

A big thank you to the dedicated team of rescuers! Including Kimberly Spiegel who spotted and watched the turtle until help arrived, the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard Auxillary, AND the Florida Fish and Wildlife. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Check out a great video of Taco’s rescue created by Patti Gross of the US Coast Guard Auxillary by clicking the link below, enjoy!

Taco Rescue Video

Estelle and Creeper were found lethargic, floating, emaciated, with many barnacles. Creeper had many large barnacles living on his carapace while on Estelle they had embedded in the skin of her flippers. Now removed and all cleaned up, staff is tempting the turtles with food in hopes of getting them to eat on their own. After working with Creeper for a couple of days, he has started to eat some filets of mackerel on his own. Estelle seems to only prefer nibbling lettuce leafs. With antibiotics, fluids, and wound care, we hope to get these turtles hydrated and healthy for release in the future.

Theora was found floating offshore heavily covered with algae and barnacles.  Upon admittance, she was severely underweight and dehydrated.  She was later found to have two small tumors underneath both of her back flippers.  She is currently on a broad spectrum antibiotic and subcutaneous fluids to rehydrate her and will undergo surgery to remove these tumors when stable.

Theora upon admittance to the Turtle Hospital

Chuy was found floating off Satellite Beach in Brevard County, FL .  His left flipper was missing most likely from a predator attack or entanglement.  He also has fibropapilloma virus and will be receiving surgery once stable.

Chuy upon arrival

G-Mo was found with a hook embedded in his left front flipper and also had monofilament line wrapped around his neck.  Luckily for G-Mo, the fishing line and hook were removed without any complications.  He was also found with leeches on the underside of his shell.  For the time being, he will be receiving a broad spectrum antibiotic and subcutaneous fluids until he is brought back up to speed.

G-Mo upon arrival

Bernie was originally admitted at SeaWorld Orlando clear back in March of 2011.  Bernie most likely suffered trauma from a wave washing him up against a bank of rocks.  He had a wound on the rear end of his carapace which is now almost completely healed.  He is currently in half a tank of water where his back end appears to be floating on the surface revealing possible gas build up within his body cavity.  Our volunteer veterinarian, Dr. Cathy was here this morning to remove a possible fibropapilloma tumor and take a biopsy to be sent to the pathology lab.  Stay tuned for updates on Bernie along with all of these recently admitted turtles!

Meet Bernie!

Eventually she was able to breathe in shallow water and began to eat on her own, but her floating and inactivity did not change. Stumped, staff decided to complete an endoscopy to see if anything internally was compromised. Everything looked healthy internally so she then went to Fisherman’s Hospital (usually for humans) to get an MRI! We were very thankful to have that service donated by the hospital for Daisy.

We learned that she was suffering from hydrocephalus (a build up of cerebralspinal fluid in the cavities of the brain). The 10-lb turtle had a spinal tap and new types of medicine to help with this problem.

Her behavior improved and she was able to dive, but still tended to float. In the past week, staff decided to try Daisy in a section of our main pool with other small greens for stimulation. Right away, Daisy sunk down to the bottom and began to act more normal than we have ever seen before! She now rests on the bottom and is often swimming around with other juvenile greens. We hope Daisy continues to improve so that we can get this beautiful green back out in the ocean!

For the first month of his stay, Senor was in shallow water, he floated on his side and was extremely inactive. The turtle was likely suffering from an internal infection which produced gas and forced him to float. After a few weeks of antibiotic treatment, Senor started showing drastic improvement! We were shocked one day when we came in to find him resting on the bottom. We were able to increase his water level and he is now one of the feistiest turtles in our care. We expect blood levels to reach optimal levels in the next couple of weeks, stay tuned for a release date and location for this turtle!