SEATTLE – Two sea turtles that landed malnourished on Pacific Northwest beaches this past winter have been taken from Seattle to San Diego aboard a U.S. Coast Guard plane to finish rehabilitation, the Associated Press reported. Ten turtles arrived on shores in Washington, Oregon and Northern California and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said only three of them survived.
Found on the Oregon coast, a male olive ridley turtle named Tucker who’s between 15 to 20 years of age, was among the survivors flown to San Diego. And a pacific green turtle nicknamed Comber landed on Canada’s Vancouver Island and became the first turtle to be successfully rehabilitated in that country, at the Vancouver Aquarium.
Both Comber and Tucker had 40-degree body temperatures when they were found. The latter got severe pneumonia and was treated in a hyperbaric chamber because he developed air in his tissue. The sea turtles will finish their rehabilitation at SeaWorld San Diego and are expected to be released in the summer, when there is the most amount of food and the waters are the warmest.
The flight from Seattle to San Diego was possible thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Seattle Aquarium, Vancouver Aquarium and the U.S. Coast Guard. Laura Todd, who’s a supervisor at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the Coast Guard provided a warm cabin for Tucker and Comber.
Little boy from Massachusetts raises awareness on sea turtle rescue efforts
A 6-year-old kindergartener called Jasper Rose, of Watertown, decided to skip birthday gifts and instead asked for money he could donate for the Boston’s New England Aquarium to boost sea turtle rescue efforts, as reported by ABC News. He collected $550 and went with his family to present the check to aquarium officials on Friday, just in time for Earth Day.
Jasper had the opportunity to spend the whole morning feeding the sea turtles by hand at the top of the aquarium’s four story Caribbean coral reef tank. His mother, Ananda, said the boy was inspired after a recent visit to the aquarium’s Animal Care Center in Quincy, where aquarium officials treat several sea turtles every year. The animals, found stranded on the beaches of nearby Cape Cod, usually suffer from dehydration, hypothermia and other illnesses. They’re nursed back to health before being returned to the ocean.
Source: ABC News