Sept. Turtle Hospital Update

Greetings friends! Here is a very brief update on the Sea Turtle Hospital:

This past Sunday, September 20, a small green sea turtle from Pawley’s Island was admitted into the Sea Turtle Hospital. Pawley was in terrible shape upon arrival but is responding well to treatments. A new blog is posted at http://www.scaquarium.org/STR/blog/strblog.html with more details and he/she has been added to the Turtle Hospital page, as well.

Scute, the loggerhead that was admitted on August 23 is doing quite well. She is eating like a champ and really spunky! Pirate who was admitted on July 16 is a bit more difficult of a case. Pirate’s lockjaw persists and he/she is unable to eat, although the desire is there. Dr. Boylan and I have been tube feeding Pirate a supergruel 2-3 times a week. She is still on antibiotics but has also received anti-inflammatories and dewormers through the tube feedings. Most recently we have administered muscle relaxers and have been successful in opening her mouth by hand about 4cm. Prior to this it would take 2 of us to open it using ropes. We will continue to work with this turtle in hopes to remedy the jaw problems.

Myrtle, North Myrtle, Little Debbie, Mama Pritchard and Mingo are still undergoing treatment (Mingo failed the pre-release bloodwork AGAIN!) which brings us to 8 patients at present. All of these animals will overwinter with us in hopes that most will be ready to be released when the waters warm up in the spring.

Thank you all for your support of the program. Please let me know if you have any questions!
Kelly

Kelly J. Thorvalson
Senior Biologist
Sea Turtle Rescue Program Manager

South Carolina Aquarium
100 Aquarium Wharf
Charleston, SC 29401

Direct Line: (843) 579-8535
scaquarium.org