These two little ones are your regular pet store land turtles, someone found them on the street and brought them to the rescue centre
Today we took a more leisurely approach to the day – we slept late and in the afternoon visited the sea turtle rescue center here on South Padre Island which was founded in 1977 by Ila Loetscher, the Turtle Lady of South Padre. Would you believe at that time she was 73 years old? Proves it is never too late to do something you enjoy, and perhaps become famous in the endeavor.
When she first retired here she nursed injured sea turtles back to health from her home just a few doors down from where we are now staying. She took an interest in the sea turtles and the organization grew from there. The turtles presently in the facility are injured resulting from floating fishing nets, fishing lines, sharks, consumption of plastic bags mistaken for food, human hunters and other predators. The on site guide gave a very informative presentation on sea turtles, their live and their predators. Would you believe it takes 3 adult sea turtles to make a pair of adult size boots?
Many of the turtles in the turtle hospital will be returned to the ocean, others will never be able to return to the wild because of the extent of their injuries. Fred, one of the sea turtles who lost a flipper due to a shark attack, was found on the beach here in South Padre near death suffering from malnutrition. He was admitted to the turtle hospital where his wounds healed and excellent health returned, after which he was returned to the wild. A month or so later he again washed up on the shores of South Padre Isl., he was again taken back to the Sea Turtle sanctuary where he was examined, found to be in good health and again released to the wild. Fred had found he liked the 4 star turtle sanctuary and returned to the Island 3 more times before the turtle hospital staff realized he was never going to willingly return to the wild, he loved the rescue centre so much he wanted it to become his permanent home. You guessed it Fred is now a permanent resident.
One turtle was found at the jetty upside down and wedged between 2 rocks in early January of this year- he looked dead. The man that found him called the coast guard who in turn called the turtle hospital, today he is still alive but very sick with a bad kidney infection. It is unknown how he picked up the bacteria but he is definitely having a difficult time getting better.
Before any of the turtles are sent back into the wild a computer chip is implanted under the skin on a flipper and a visible tag is attached through the skin where the flipper joins the body. None of the turtles this organization on South Padre Island has returned to the wild have been reported as dead which leads them to believe the turtles have survived. Saving sea turtles is a world wide project so they are confident that any found would have been reported.
What an informative and interesting excursion this turned out to be! I did not know only land turtles can draw their head, legs and tail into their shell. Because the sea turtle is unable to do this they are unprotected from many of their predators.
If you wish to learn more about the South Padre Island Turtle Rescue Centre or sea turtles in general visit www.seaturtleinc.com
Farewell until tomorrow,
Anne
