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CHARLESTON, S.C. -- An unusually cold winter meant an unusually busy spring
at the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Hospital as workers cared for
turtles stunned by the cold and fighting other ailments.
At one point the hospital was treating 22 turtles - more than double its
capacity - but things are due to get back to normal on Friday as workers
prepare to release nine turtles on nearby Kiawah Island.
Eight of those being released are green sea turtles that were among more
than 100 turtles stunned off the Carolinas coast last December when a cold
snap hit. One, named Frosty by the hospital staff, had frostbite on one of
its flippers.
"These animals are cold blooded and don't regulate their body temperatures,"
said Kelly Thorvalson, the manager of the Sea Turtle Rescue Program. "It was
really the first cold snap of the season and the coastal water temperatures
went down so quickly they were unable to migrate out."
The turtles most susceptible to stunning by cold are juveniles in sounds and
inside barrier islands, where water temperatures can drop more quickly.
Younger turtles seem to be less adept at migrating to warmer waters and
turtles are often stunned along the New England and North Carolina coasts,
she said.
Sea water temperatures near the South Carolina coast hovered in the upper
40s for days last winter.
The December cold snap killed thousands of starfish at the Isle of Palms
while thousands of dead menhaden were found on nearby Folly Beach in
January. The cold has also delayed the start of the shrimp season in South
Carolina.
Not all the turtles being released Friday were stunned by the cold. Dawsey,
a 200-pound endangered loggerhead, was found on the South Carolina coast
last summer with a front flipper that was injured so he could not use it.
Sick and injured sea turtles are given fluids, antibiotics, vitamins and
other medication. Treatment can also include surgery, X-rays and blood
transfusions. The average hospital stay is about seven months.
The hospital has 10 tanks and even after the turtles are released on Friday,
will still be near capacity treating nine turtles. When more than 10 are
being treated, the tanks are subdivided with mesh nets.
The $69 million aquarium opened in 2000 after 16 years of planning and
construction and a few weeks later took in its first turtle, a loggerhead
that smelled pretty bad and was quickly dubbed Stinky.
That tagged turtle was recaptured in a survey trawl off the Georgia coast
last year and found to be fat, healthy and active.
The aquarium spends about $230,000 a year on its turtle program, some of
that offset by tickets for the hospital tours the aquarium offers to the
public 10 times a week.
Many scientists say that the biggest threat to sea turtles is humans.
"It could be anything from entanglement in fishing lines to plastic in the
ocean to propeller strikes due to boats," said aquarium spokeswoman Kate
Dittloff.
All turtles are released into the ocean once they recover at the hospital.
The turtles in the aquarium exhibits are acquired as hatchlings from the
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources but after several years on
display they too, are released, she said.
"Everyone adores sea turtles. It's one of our most popular programs,"
Dittloff said. "They seem so innocent and have been around longer than the
dinosaurs. I think people respect that and are really interested in seeing
them up close."
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