Advertisement
Published: February 7th 2013
Edit Blog Post
Thursday, 7 February, 2013
Tuesday was softball day again and another good turnout. Afterwards we went to the Laundromat and now have plenty of clean clothes.
Yesterday was a good day to go to the Keys Turtle Hospital in Marathon. They rescue, rehabilitate and release injured and sick sea turtles. They have some permanent resident turtles, as they can’t release them if they are missing a limb or have what they call bubble butt. Bubble butt is when an injury causes air bubbles to collect under the shell, preventing them from diving as deep as they need to feed. Sea turtles main defense is their speed, and if they are missing a fin or have bubble butt, that really slows them down. They glue weights to the turtles’ shells to help them balance and dive in the pools at the center.
We first had a tour of the hospital where they treat injured turtles, whether they have been hit by a boat propeller, been tangled in fishing line or nets, or have swallowed fish hooks. They also do surgery there to removed tumors, caused by the fibropapilloma virus, commonly found these days in green turtles. Untreated, these tumors
can grow quite large, causing blindness, affecting internal organs and slowing their swimming abilities. We were shown some of the garbage found inside sea turtle intestines, causing blockages. Sea turtles will eat almost anything and all the trash in the oceans make it a nasty concoction inside the turtles intestines.
We then went out to the pools to see the current patients and residents. The sicker animals are placed in individual tanks until they are able to be released. Once the tumors (from the FP virus) are removed, they have to stay in the facility for a year to make sure the tumors don’t recur. We saw Jib, a 135 lb. Loggerhead, who had been hit twice by boats and had an intestinal obstruction. His shell is held together with metal strips to close the damage from the most recent boat strike. Sandy, a 150 lb. Loggerhead had a fishhook in the throat, which has been removed. She is due to be released this Saturday. There is a beautiful Hawksbill turtle who is recovering from injuries and illness. The hawksbill shells are beautifully marked and are the ones that tortoiseshell glasses and other items were made from before they
Huge sea turtle
This is a picture of a big turtle on the operating table. It had to be lifted up with a fork lift were put on the endangered list. There was a late loggerhead hatchling, that will be released into the Gulf Stream in the spring. He’s quite an active little cutie. Mostly they have green turtles, and they are beautifully marked, too. They are not green on the outside, but their muscles are.
The permanent residents are available for adoption to accredited zoos and aquariums. But it breaks your heart to see the damage done to them by the carelessness of humans. Also, did you know that it’s against the law to touch a sea turtle? If you come across one in distress, call wildlife services, and they can call the appropriate rescue group. So, don’t throw trash in the oceans and waterways and don’t speed through the grass flats where they feed. All in all, it was a most informative and enjoyable tour. You can visit their website at turtlehospital.org.
On the way back to Long Key SP, the traffic came to a halt at the upper end of the Long Key Channel bridge, stopped by a police officer. We sat for a while, watching a helicopter flying over the bridge, until someone spoke with the officer and found
out they were filming a commercial on the bridge. We sat for probably half an hour before finally being able to cross the bridge. We saw a flat black Italian sports car, I gues a Ferrari or Lamborghini, parked at the upper end of the bridge. We also saw a red speed boat being filmed as it raced parallel to the bridge. The southbound traffic was backed up past the entrance to the state park, more than a mile and a half. After we got back to the campground, we saw the traffic had stopped again and the helicopter was flying around again.
Thursday morning we were back at the softball field. I think we ended up with 25 players today. It’s another beautiful day here in the sunny Florida Keys.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.071s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0416s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Gena Hixson
non-member comment
Kerry fishing
We know the feeling---we've been fishing twice since getting home and nothing!! Got a call from Ron, who wants to know how fishing is going to be in April? He's coming down to go fishing---hope it improves by that time!!! Loved the pictures of the turtles---take care---love ya---gena