Turtles arrive for winter
Wed, Dec 19, 2007
By ELLEN ROBINSONThe Brunswick NewsMike Mulligan of Annapolis, Md., knew volunteering his services for seven sea turtles would have a positive impact on the survival of two endangered species. He was right. Thanks to his flying skills, as well as his donation of time and a private jet, five Kemp's Ridleys and two green sea turtles rescued in Cape Code, Mass., are now safe and warm in the rehabilitation tanks of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.The turtles will receive needed treatment at the less than one-year-old center before being released back into the wild in the spring. Tuesday afternoon, Mulligan landed his jet at the McKinnon St. Simons Island Airport with the special delivery from the New England Aquarium, which had been a long time coming. The turtles were due to arrive Dec. 8 but the flight was delayed due to inclement weather.
Terry Norton, right, director of veterinary services at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center examines one of seven new arrivals while aquarist Jeannie Miller takes notes. (Michael Hall/The Brunswick News)
| Ten days later, the special cargo was carefully unloaded from the aircraft and delivered to the trusting care of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.The Georgia State Patrol escorted the caravan from the airport to the center on Jekyll Island to ensure the turtles' safe arrival.At the center, staff carefully processed the reptiles. Each was examined, treated and weighed before being placed in tanks. "All of them have some degree of pneumonia," said Bill Irwin, executive director of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. "They are still somewhat malnourished and we will treat them for bacterial infections." Lesions, caused possibly by frost bite in the cold waters of Cape Cod, where they were found stranded on a beach by volunteers, were treated.Irwin estimates the turtles ages at between 1 and 2 years.It was a history-making day for the center. The Kemp's Ridleys are its first of the species. "These Kemp's Ridley turtles are born in Mexico," Irwin said. "They probably traveled through the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida and up the East Coast. They got stuck up there and couldn't get out before the waters turned too cold for them."The New England Aquarium nursed the seven back to health, elevating their health to the point where they were diving and eating on their own before departing for Georgia. Irwin feels this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship between the New England Aquarium and the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, which is equipped to rehabilitate up to 20 cold-stunned turtles at a time. "Treating cold-stunned turtles is really what this facility was built to do," Irwin said.And it may be space that's needed."Some years, they have hundreds that get stranded up there," Irwin said. "I am glad we are here to help."
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