The Adventures of s/v Agave

Turtle Hospital Report

On Saturday the 21^st of December 2013 my family and the Romano family went to the Turtle Hospital. The Turtle Hospital is a small hospital where rescue turtles, rehabilitate them and then release them. Their slogan is RESCUE, REHAB, RELEASE.

About Turtles

Sea turtles eat jellyfish, conch, crab, shrimp, and anything else easy to catch. But when they are older they are herbivores they eat stuff like sea grass. Turtles have really strong jaws so that they can break the shell of a conch or a crab. There are 7 types of sea turtles in the world. There is the Green, Hawksbill, Leather Back, Kemp ridley, Loggerback, Olive Ridley, and Flatback.

Injuries

Turtles can get tumors, boat strikes, intestinal blockage, and others. A tumor is a swelling part of the body. A boat strike is when a boat’s propeller hits a turtle’s shell causing spine and internal organ damage.

What the turtle hospital does to help

The turtle hospital helps by applying surgery and then lets them rest in a pool type of thing for a week to a month. Then they take the turtle back to where they found it and releases it.

Names of current patients and their injuries:

Corona: 28 lbs found floating and struggling at the surface.

Chris: 7 lbs tumors

Amethyst: 15 lbs had tumors may be released soon

Brett: 113 lbs intestinal blockage

Emerald: 13 lbs tumors

Gizmo: 80 lbs intestinal blockage

Archie: 17 lbs covered in tumors including both eyes

Ron: 10 lbs netted on a coral reef due to heavy load of tumors

Chance: 70 lbs old boat hit caused deformation of shell and has one small tumor

Augustus: 10 lbs heavy load of tumors

Moses: 14 lbs 6 inch split in shell from boat hit