Sea Turtle Hospital News

Spotlight on Kelsey Blackburn
If you hear the lilting sounds of song in our hospital chances are it’s coming from summer intern Kelsey Blackburn. She’s been singing in choirs since third grade, and she’s discovered that a little tune will often calm a turtle that’s in the throes of a hissy fit.

Kelsey found out about our internship from her mother, who works at Duke. Mom constantly heard only praise and glowing reports about our program from her friends at Duke Marine. Kelsey wanted to try something different this year, so she applied and came face to face with her first sea turtle in May. But getting here wasn’t that easy. Because of a phone mix-up the word that she’d been accepted was very late in coming. In fact, she was ready to start another job, but the minute she heard Jean’s voice she began packing for the beach.

Photo: Kelsey has obviously lulled her charge to sleep with a lullaby.

Kelsey expected to work hard, and for her summer here to be very challenging. She’s taking courses in pre-vet and is keeping a photo journal of her favorite patient, "Marina." It’s important that our turtles get some direct sunshine whenever possible, so Kelsey gets to spend a little quiet time with Marina every day, basking in our glorious sunshine. It’s her favorite part of the work, and it thrills her to see the tremendous amount of progress this little critter has made since arriving a few months ago. She’s hoping that what she’s doing here will carry some weight when she applies to vet school, and that her "hard work and experience will really pay off" once she gets there.

The biggest surprise to anyone working at our hospital is our expectation that they learn to love and be able to operate our water system. Kelsey can now add plumbing to her skill set. That experience may be one of the reasons she advises new interns to "buy Crocs®!"  She warns against socks and tennis shoes, because after one day at the hospital they’re soaked, fragrant and are never quite the same.

Other summers Kelsey has volunteered for a program at camp Salkehatchie, where participants work on a home for a week, similar to Habitat for Humanity. Her specialty is roofing. Hmm - plumbing and roofing - maybe she could intern at Extreme Home Makeover next year. Kelsey returns to Wake Forest as junior majoring in Psychology and Pre-Vet. If our patients have had anything to tell her she’s not sharing it with us, citing doctor-patient confidentiality.

Spotlight on Ava Bace
Although Ava grew up in Wilmington she’s spent the last four years in the mountains at UNC-Asheville. While there are no sea turtles in them thar hills there’s an abundance of feathered creatures. Ava spent a good deal of her spare time working at "Wild For Life," a facility that cares mainly for injured birds. It’s there that she learned the fine art of feeding the tired, the hurt and the reluctant to munch. That’s certainly come in handy at our hospital where a turtle can lull you into believing they just adore our cuisine - until the day they don’t - and turn up their noses at everything being served.

She’s found that the biggest difference in birds and our patients is that our turtles require much more medical care, and very specific and detailed treatments. Right now we have a lot of really sick and seriously injured patients that need a lot of attention. Ava works on two of the most seriously injured: long-term project "Boater" and new admit "Ophelia." She adds that, in addition to the medical side of the work, the daily, routine care has been a great lesson in animal husbandry.

Photo: Ava Fluffs and buffs "NOAA" for our open house.

Ava decided in her sophomore year to add pre-vet courses to her major in Ecology. It was no surprise then to learn that her most memorable experience this summer was a necropsy. She says the chance to view turtle anatomy so closely gave her a new way of looking at the turtles, knowing what’s "under the shell." Even though she acknowledges that beauty is only carapace deep she still expresses a special affinity for the "pretty little Greens" under her care.

Ava echoes her fellow intern’s advice to anyone contemplating applying for our program: it’s a lot of hard work, but no matter what you’re doing it all helps the turtles, and it all pays off: "be prepared to just do it!" In her spare time she likes being outdoors, especially backpacking and hiking. She also enjoys live music and will go to just about any concert she can find. Maybe Kelsey will belt out a few tunes for her before she returns to UNC-Asheville where she’ll be a "super senior" in her fifth and final year after adding all those pre-vet classes.

Hospital Open House: There are only a few more weeks to visit us before we close our doors to the public at the end of August. We’re open daily, except Wednesday and Sunday, from 2-4 PM. The gift shop is also open during these hours. Lines can be long so come prepared with sunscreen and umbrellas for shade. Your minimum contribution of $2 per adult and $1 per child will help us reach that final $350,000 we need to build our new facility, and anything above and beyond is greatly appreciated. We’re behind the big blue water tank in Topsail Beach.

Turtle Talks: Every Wednesday through Labor Day from 3:45 - 4:45 PM at the Surf City Community Center. This informative, family-oriented program is fun and has hands-on turtle stuff and handouts for all ages. Our program is free but all donations are gratefully accepted.

Topsail Turtle Project
We’ve still under 60 nests so those Loggerhead ladies might want to check their calendars to see just how little time there is until the end of our official "season."  During August our volunteers are working a split shift: walking for tracks in the morning and preparing for hatches at night. As the incubation period ends you’ll see that some of the staked areas have been ramped and smoothed in anticipation of the blessed event. You’ll also see our volunteers sitting nearby ready to lend a benign hand to any hatchlings. If you’re lucky enough to be around during a hatch remember that our volunteers are in charge. You’re welcome to stay if you can sit quietly and follow their instructions.

All sea turtles are federally protected animals. Harassing or interfering with them or their nests in any way is punishable by a hefty fine and/or imprisonment. Please report any incidents of nesting, hatching, injury, stranding or harassment to our Director of Beach Operations, Terry Meyer at 910-470-2880 immediately.

Questions, comments or suggestions for stories
Contact me at: flippers@embarqmail.com.