Topsail Beach, NC - The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center

Our hospital has its own New Year’s baby: a little green hatchling named “Baldie.”

This tiny critter had gone where hatchlings have no business being, a marshy area near Bald Head Island. Luckily he was plucked from what would have literally been his watery grave had he remained there during our recent cold snap. 

 Older greens are frequent visitors to our waters, but an encounter of the hatchling kind is pretty rare. Although he may have been born with a poor sense of direction he certainly knew his way around the crab and algae bar. This little guy came in with flapping flippers, well nourished and looking for his next meal.

After his exam and a mini-spa treatment, Baldie was escorted to his room (a blue basin) in our penthouse (the bathroom) where he has an aerial view (from the top of a storage cabinet) of his neighbors. The fact that this is the only place we had left to put this beautiful turtle underscores the crowded conditions of our hospital.

Baldie continues to thrive, participating with the other forty-seven patients in eating us out of house and home. His mouth might be small but when breakfast is served he practically inhales everything we drop into his basin. We can almost see him growing right before our eyes. Right now he seems to be on the fast track for a reserved seat on the big boat out to the Gulf Stream. Until then, we’ll just enjoy having his pretty, er, handsome face to look at every day.

Questions, comments or suggestions for stories
Contact me at: flippers@embarqmail.com.  This column will appear approximately every two weeks during the winter months.