I spent the entire day at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center today. They currently have 58 turtles. 56 of them are ill or awaiting surgery (more on that later). Most of the turtles that we are caring for have Fibropapilloma Tumors. I took several pictures today of these poor souls. The disease is not widely understood yet but it is a tragic virus. Disney is sending a surgery team down to Gumbo Limbo to surgically remove the "PAPS", especially from the turtle's eyes because without their sight, they are doomed.
The image above is of a very young green sea turtle with a fishing hook in his mouth. We had to sedate him to remove the hook and he will be released tomorrow.
The sad part about this is that the fisherman knew what happened and all he did was cut the fishing line and let the turtle go. Thank goodness someone witnessed this and grabbed the turtle and brought it to us. He would have died. The hook went right through his tongue.
The above picture is of the plastron (belly side) of a turtle that was speared. You read that correctly. A human speared this poor turtle. Dr Mettee explored the wound and we hope for a speedy recovery!
The two images above are two different turtles that both have wounds from being hit by a boat's propeller. The turtle in the first image had surgery today and we are hoping that he pulls through it but it's too soon to tell.
These animals need our help so spread the word to your fishing buddies, boating pals and sea turtle lovers. They need us to be a little more responsible and a little more caring.
Do the right thing and Keep Wagging!
2 comments:
How sad but lucky for these turtles
that people like you care enough to be involved and do something. You go girl! Keep up the good work!
Elena
Unfortunately, the second to last picture of the hit by boat did not make it. His injuries were too extensive.
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