St Patricks Day 2012--Lots of green in North Myrtle Beach. The Parade and then the Festival on Main Street. Green clothes, green hair, green floats, green decorations, beautiful summer like day.
A great day to be on the water and thats just what Jamie and his family did. Launched his boat from the 53 Ave N public boat ramp and spent the afternoon fishing in the beautiful marsh in Cherry Grove. And then he saw GREEN. Jamie came across a beautiful little 9.5 pound sea turtle struggling in the mud. This turtle didn't seem normal, very sluggish, listing to the side, covered with mud and huge barnacles.
Jamie pulled the juvenile green sea turtle from the mud and brought it back to his in-laws beach house in Cherry Grove. A quick call to the North Myrtle Beach Sea Turtle Patrol set the wheels in motion and turtle was quickly transported to the SC Sea Turtle Hospital in Charleston. Rob was first on the scene and quickly confirmed that it was indeed a sea turtle, Linda drove the turtle to Georgetown where Charlotte from SC Department of Natural Resources met her and transported the turtle the rest of the way to the hospital, arriving around 10:30PM. The hospital staff was waiting and started working on this LUCKY guy right away. A Green Endangered Sea Turtle on a Green Day!!
| According to the hospital, this was the earliest they ever admitted a sea turtle, "nearly two weeks earlier in the year than we've ever admitted a turtle before." The turtle was quickly named Grover. He/She was very lethargic, very cold with a slow heart rate. The turtle had huge turtle barnacles, algal strands with some slipper shells on its carapace. He/she was also shedding a large section of keratin from it's carapace. Grover had a few minor abrasions on the margins of its shell. No apparent internal issues except for a little gas. Grover was started on antibiotics, vitamins and fluids and placed in a tub of very shallow water. More information on Grover, other patients in the SC Sea Turtle Hospital and the Hospital in general can be found at: http://scaquarium.org/STR/hospital/default.aspx The Sea Turtle Hospital also maintains a fantastic blog and has posted a story on Grover. The link to this site : http://seaturtlehospital.blogspot.com/2012/03/first-sc-live-stranding-admitted-into.html?spref A huge thanks to Jamie and his family for caring enough to rescue this turtle. Jamie later told me that his kids were so excited to see Grover and help him. Thank you Rob for your quick response to this report. Hope the pizza was not to cold when you finally got home. Thank your Charlotte for calling back so quickly and meeting me in Georgetown. And a huge thanks to the staff at the Sea Turtle Hospital. Late on Saturday night, but they were all there to help Grover. Posted by Linda |
No comments:
Post a Comment