The Turtle Hospital

Day 192, February 18th, 2010

Today I really had some fun! I went with two girlfriends to the Turtle Hospital. It was so interesting. Its just a short 15 min. walk from here. It used to be the only turtle hospital but now there are a couple of others in the south. Turtles were brought here from all over but now are spread between the various facilities. Turtles are brought in when found by the public, the Coast Guard or the Department of Fisheries, when they are sick and needing help. The are treated sometimes for long periods and then released back into the sea. Some stay for short periods, others for years. They have an operating room, and a large salt water pool, with other small tanks for more supervision. It really is a hospital!! The hospital was established in 1949 and is completely independent, funded by its tours and gift shop. It cost us each $15.00 for the tour and was worth every penny. We learned that there are 5 types of turtles, the most common green turtles, the loggerhead, the leatherback, the hawksbill, and the kemps ridley. Its a sad story of pollution for the most part. Turtles ingest fish hooks and line which gums up their intestines. The fish line gets tangled around their flippers. And they get bumped and injured by boats and propellers. Amazingly they can swim up to 25 mph. but sometimes not fast enough. They are often found floating on the surface when they are sick. They are brought in and treated with surgery and antibiotics. Sometimes flippers have to be amputated but they can adapt well to swimming with 3 flippers. If their intestines are all bunged up they treat them with metamucil and mineral oil - sound familiar!!? They are kept until they poop out the fishing line, hooks and plastic bags!!! Poor dears!! Sometimes, when their shell is damaged by banging into a boat, they develop a pocket of air under their shell and develop "Bubble Butt Syndrome". The air bubble prevents them from diving down to the bottom where they feed and they starve to death. They have not been able to find a way to remove the air. Puncturing the shell only causes infections. They have tried hyperbolic chambers but that doesn't work either. Their only method of helping at present is to attach a weight to the shell so that the turtle can dive and be able to feed. "Each turtle is named by the person who brings him in. There are some funny names. "Bubble Butt" himself is still resident at the hospital - he's been there since 1991. He'll never be able to look after himself so he'll stay there for the rest of his life. (They may live for 100 years!) Another turtle was called "April". April was named when he first arrived - they didn't realise he was a she until he was quite a bit older!!
"Anita" is a hawksbill and she looks beautiful but for some unknown reason she swims in circles!!! They are trying to teach her to swim straight!! It was all fascinating. I hope you enjoy the pictures!