Calling All Creatures Presents Shell Yeah! Turtle Rescue Stories

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Good evening, everybody, and welcome to Calling Out Creatures. I'm
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your host, Lori, and tonight I have a podcast for
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you turtle lovers out there called Shell Yeah Turtle Rescue Stories.
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So I was pretty stoked to find out about the
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Turtle Hospital and Betty Zirkleback and she is my guest
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tonight and she's going to be talking to us about
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sea turtles, which I think is really cool. And I
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happen to see these guys featured on Animal Zone and
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I was like, Oh, what good guests they have on
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the show tonight. So she was nice enough to join us,
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and now we're going to talk about all sorts of
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sea turtle stuff and all about the rescue that they do. Betty,
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thank you for being on the show tonight. I appreciate it.
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No, thank you, Laurie Shell. Yeah. I love the title.
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I thought it would kind of fit the podcast because
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you know, you guys do turtle rescue wh STU. So yeah,
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and it was just like it just kind of went
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right together, you know. So for listeners that may be
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new to your work, what can you tell us what
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the Turtle Hospital actually is and how it all began?
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I can so the Turtle Hospital is.
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Located in the heart of the Florida Keys And if
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you're not familiar with that, it's a chain of islands
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just south of the mainland of the state of Florida
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and they are islands connected by bridges. It is Monroe County, Florida,
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and the Turtle.
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Hospital is located right in the heart at mil Marker
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forty eight point five. We are a veternary hospital just
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for sea turtles.
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We were the first vetternory hospital for sea turtles in
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the world and are celebrating our fortieth year.
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Pretty amazing.
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That is amazing and our mission, our goal with every
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turtle that comes into the Turtle Hospital is to get
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it rehabilitated, healthy enough to go back to the wild.
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And I just want to clarify that we do strictly
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sea turtles, so that's sea turtles that live in the ocean.
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Awesome, because I know I've talked to, you know, a
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couple of other rescues that do, uh, turtle rescues and stuff,
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not maybe sea turtles, but turtle rescues, and they, you know,
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are always telling me how they've got now taking on
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extra animals. Infect Repelican Rescue was like that too. They
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were doing pelicans, but now they're doing lots of the
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native wildlife. They're the smaller stuff, so they wait.
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We are fortunate in our community. We have right down
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the street a marathon while bird Rescue. I actually rescued
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a pelican last week and took it there.
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And we have some really good small mammal you know,
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wildlife rehabilitators in the Florida Keys as well.
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That's good to know. That's good to know. I'm sure
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the people down there are happy that there's, you know,
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such a diversity of you guys, because I know that
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you can get really busy.
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Sometime times, it doesn't We're currently caring for over fifty.
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Sea turtles right now.
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We have the largest capacity of any rehabilitation facility in
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the world.
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We not only rescue sea turtles here.
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In Monroe County, which covers over two hundred miles of coastline,
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but we also take turtles from as far away as
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New England.
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We've gotten them from the islands. And on a global level,
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we raise awareness, We educate.
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We have Skype classrooms to.
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Educate people around the globe.
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And I can tell you, Laurie, I get calls from
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all over the world and we try to connect.
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If we cannot help them directly because they're too far away,
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we try to network and get them help for their turtles.
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Nice. That's pretty cool, you know. I this is fine.
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I was just thinking I'm going to be I'm with
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my local Lions Club and I'm kind of their marketing person,
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and so I go out and I find guest speakers
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to be on the Lions Club stuff all the time.
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And I was like, as you were talking and you
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were talking about the different Skype stuff that you do
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for education, I was like, you know, this would be
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I need to introduce this to the club and do
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something like this, because we have a projector with a screen,
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you know, and then I could contact different people and
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just hook my laptop up to it and you know,
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everybody could come in and learn more. I mean, we're
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in Arizona, but you never know where people might be
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going to. I mean there's a lot of you know,
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people that travel back and forth, go back to the
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East Coast stuff all the time, so you just never
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know where someone might turn up. And it would be plus,
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you know a lot of people are like me and
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my listeners were all interested in this kind of stuff.
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So I was just thinking about that. Wow, I could
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have some of you guys come on and talk at
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my Lions Club sometime in the future, and that would
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be cool.
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Yeah, the new technology, it makes the world so small,
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which there are some wonderful things we can do.
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Yeah. Well, and I know, you know, like the kids
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do the online schooling and all that kind of stuff.
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But I have to say a lot of my club
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is older. And I mean I'm old enough, but they're
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older than me, some of them. So it's like, you know,
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try trying to get them to do some new things.
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Sometimes they're just kind of like, what do you want
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us to do? So but I think they would go
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for something like that where I could have if I
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could have people every so often just come on once
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and talk about different things like I do with my podcast,
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just you know, the more of the radio version I'm
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not on, uh you know, video and stuff like that.
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But anyway, so sorry, just things I think about when
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I'm talking, and you just kind of.
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Keep things interesting.
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And one thing I have done for clubs, you know,
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all throughout the country is to give a virtual tour
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of the Turtle Hospital, so you're actually you.
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Know, or on a Google Hangout or a zoom.
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And I take you around the facility just like you
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were here, and it would be cool we do here
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at the Turtle Hospital.
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That would be cool. I may have to convince my
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club to do something like that and get guest speakers
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like you to do that every once in a while,
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because I was thinking that the other day too. A
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lot of the guests I've had on for my podcast
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it would make interesting to have as speakers for my
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club as well, because yeah, I'm sure they would like
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a lot of it. Anyway. So what actually drew you
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into sea turtle conservation work and working at the turtle Hospital?
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What got you started?
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Well, I will say it was not a direct route
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for me.
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I didn't get into the wonderful world of sea turtles
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until about fourteen years ago. But I did study biology
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in college. I left college to help my father's business.
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He had a heart attack at a young age, unfortunately,
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and I went in my early twenties to go help.
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And his business was industrial.
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It was a powder coating plant outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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But my heart was always in animal rescue. So as
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hard as I was working.
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Running a family business for a decade. For ten years,
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I did that all my free time, Laurie, I spent
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rescuing animals, So I did Marine Mammal Stranding Center out
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of Brigantine, New Jersey. I volunteered for the Tri State
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Wildberg Rescue. I raised service dogs for seven years. And
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that was all stuff that filled my soul.
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I did not get paid for.
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And after a decade and I was making a six
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digit income, I left all that to move to the
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Florida Keys and follow really what my heart and passion
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and took a job for seven dollars and twenty five
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cents an hour to work at a nonprofit, the Dolphin
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Research Center that's here in the Florida Keys, and did
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manatee rescue and dolphin research and I became director of
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facilities there. I was there for twelve years and then
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got this amazing opportunity to come to the Turtle Hospital
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and to see if the non profit could be self supporting.
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And I have more than done that. So we've raised
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the revenues for the.
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Nonprofit to purchase a property from the founder and they're
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really solid. We're open now seven days a week and
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see over one hundred and fifteen thousand visitors a year
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educating people about sea turtles. So I'm really proud of
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what our team does and where the Turtle Hospital is.
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And it really feels like a blessing to work in
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a mission based work. You know, it's very black and white.
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Our decisions are made, you know, for.
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The turtle Care.
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That's pretty that's awesome.
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You know.
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I lived in Florida for a while, but I wasn't
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down that far. I was Tampa. Okay, Yeah, I was
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about the farthest I really made it. But yeah, and
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that was probably that was quite a long time ago.
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That would have been thirty or forty years ago, so
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maybe when the Turtle Hospital was just getting started, right,
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So yeah, yeah, I was just I would have came
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to visit, but I don't know if you're actually rapp
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and running yet.
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So it is quite the history of the Turtle Hospital.
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As I mentioned, we're celebrating our fortieth year and Richie Muretti,
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who is the founder and still the director.
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He's eighty two years old and still very involved.
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He retired at the age of forty bought his old
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mom Pole motel called the Hidden Harbor Motel here at.
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The same facility were we are now.
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And he was an avid fisherman with his partner at
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the time, Tina Brown, and it was before fishing regulations,
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so they would go out and fish for these tournaments,
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to catch very large fish and bring them back to
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the dock to weigh them and get the pictures that
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you see all throughout the Florida Keys, and the fish
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would die.
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Well.
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At the motel he bought, they had a natural title pool,
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and the first thing Richie did was put in a
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fresh water swimming pool.
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And then when that title pool, when they would bring the.
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Fish back, they would put the fish in the title
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pool so they would live. And in a short time
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he got an aquarium of source with local sea life,
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and the school found out about it and they ask
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if they could bring classes to learn about local sea life.
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Well, by now it was the.
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Mid nineteen eighties and teenage mutant ninja turtles were all
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the craze, so the kids would ask to see a
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sea turtle, and by then sea turtles were protected. So
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Richie went to the state of Florida and asked if
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he could put a sea turtle and his title pole,
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and they said, the only way you can do that
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is to get a permit to rehabilitate the turtle, and
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that was essentially how the turtle hospital started.
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He got his first turtles to put.
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In the title pool and help them, and then it
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became his life's passion.
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Oh wow, that's interesting. Wow, I think that would be
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fun title pool with a bunch of fish and stuff
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like turtles in it.
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Yeah, we still have that natural title pool.
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We've done some work to it, but it still has
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some natural sea life in it, and of course the
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sea turtles in addition to the hospital tanks that we
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now have.
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And in the beginning, he.
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Still rented out rooms in the hotel and the cost
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of those rentals is what would.
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Help pay for the turtle care.
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And then in two thousand and five, Hurricane Wilma came
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through the Keys and it put about five to sixty
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to water throughout the facility here and.
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In the motel rooms.
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So he did not open the motel back up, but
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then open to the general public. And that's when the
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general public could come in and see sea turtles. You
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didn't have to save the motel to do it. And
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then I was hired in twenty twelve, and at that
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time the turtle hospital had three programs a day and
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would see maybe sixty to seventy five people a day.
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And I'm happy to.
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Say, Laurie, we now see in season we see between
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five hundred and seven hundred people a day through the
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facility and have fifteen programs a day. And now because
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of all that education, six out of ten of our
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rescue calls come from people that have been through.
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Our educational programs.
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So it really is a win wind for the island
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community and for sea turtles.
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That's that is awesome. That's eight that you guys were
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able to I mean, are able to do that and
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have that many people that come in and are interested
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in doing all the stuff that they're doing. Wow, that's
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pretty cool.
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Yeah, so it really works. And you know, we see
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a lot of turtles. There are seven species of sea
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turtles in the world. We're lucky enough to see five
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of them in and around the Florida Keys.
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I was going to ask you more about turtles, So yeah,
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I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Go ahead.
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I was going to ask you more about turtles, get
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some more information about them and stuff like that.
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So, so the species we see.
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Most is probably a juvenile green sea turtle and they
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feed on the grassy bench that surround our rocky islands, and.
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We see all kinds of problems with them.
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One of the main things we see in over fifty
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percent of those juvenile green sea turtles is a horrific disease.
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It's called fiber papal lomatosis okay, called FP for sure,
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and it calls there's these horrific tumors on the turtles,
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and it not only is in the Florida Keys, but
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it's around our globe in warmer climates and only found
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in and around developed islands, which pretty much tells you
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everything you need to know. But it's found off of
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the coast of Australia, Hawaii, Africa, parts of the Caribbean, Cuba,
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all the way down to.
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The ABC's which is on air and pure South.
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So it's really really a horrific disease and can become
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a mortality event for the sea turtle.
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So we see a lot of that.
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We see both strikes, fishing line entanglement, ingestion, you know,
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synthetic or plastic ingestion.
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There's a lot of human impact injuries.
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Wow, you know, and I don't think people realize that
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how many times probably a boat hits a sea turtle,
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but they do get hit frequently.
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They do.
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It's you know, and as we see more boat traffic
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and the boats that come.
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Out on our waters now they're they're bigger.
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And faster and not just they just don't give you know,
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see life time to.
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Get away from him, right. See turtles free there like
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we do.
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So they have to surface for breath and sometimes that's
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unfortunate timing with a boat.
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Oh yeah, well yeah, most definitely. I mean I just
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watched I don't know if it was true. I haven't
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really looked into it, but the sail surfer that was
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out and ran into a whale surface anywow, Yeah, I
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think that was on the West coast over there in
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the bay, one of the bays, I think.
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So.
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Yeah, they have this video and it's a windsurfer and
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he's going through the bay windsurfing and you see this
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hump back I think it was a humpback whale, big
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blue one surface and you know, breathe out and the
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guy he was right there, I mean, there was nothing
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he could do and he ended up hitting the whale
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and he went flying and the whale went back onunder water. Wow, yeah,
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it was quite it was a kind of interesting. Sell.
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I mean, obviously a whale is quite a bit bigger
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than a sea turtle. But yeah, I guess if you know,
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what do you do with her if they surface?
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Right there? Right?
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But yeah, I mean, but with the sea turtles, I
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think it's more that they don't I mean, they probably
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don't see them, don't even realize, and yes, and then
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they're hitting them. And because yeah, I mean how big
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the sea turtles get.
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So the largest species is little leather back and it
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gets up to two thousand pounds.
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Oh wow.
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Wow.
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A green sea turtle will get up to six hundred pounds,
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a logger head up to three hundred and fifty pounds.
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And the smallest, which is also the.
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Most critically endangered, is the kemps ridley and not only
326
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gets to weigh about one hundred or one hundred and
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twenty pounds.
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So wow, that's still I mean, even the smallest is big.
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I mean that's almost you know, that's a little bit
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less than what our weigh. So I mean when you
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stop and think about it, holy crap. I mean, so yeah,
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that's I mean, and that's the small one, that's right. Yeah, wow.
333
00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:16.919
So how long do sea turtles actually live for? I mean,
334
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do they have a longer lifespan? I mean about a
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mid life span? How long are they alive?
336
00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:25.840
So they have a long lifespan. They've been known to
337
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live upwards of one hundred years.
338
00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:29.759
Okay, because I was going to say, I knew, like,
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you know, the tortoises and stuff we have like here,
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the desert tortoises, the big ones or whatever and stuff
341
00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:36.600
like that, I know that they can live up to
342
00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:39.200
that long. So I was wondering if the sea turtles
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had the same So that's interesting. One hundred years wow.
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And that's if we take care of our oceans, Laurie,
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they can live a good long time.
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That's the that's the big point right there, right, taking
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care of our oceans because we're damaging homen People don't
348
00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:57.799
believe we're damaging home. And yeah, I was just reading
349
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an article the other day where they were talking about
350
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that once the stream, and it's the major one with
351
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the you know, the warm water and the cold water
352
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where they're kind of coming like you saw in Day
353
00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:14.720
After Tomorrow, the fictional Yeah, so they were talking about
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that stream, but they said that it is breaking down
355
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and that can you know, severely change. So, I mean
356
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a lot of it's being caused by a lot of
357
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stuff we're doing. So yeah, I mean we need to
358
00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:30.480
start watching and qut dumping stuff in the oceans and
359
00:17:31.799 --> 00:17:34.440
trying to help out more animals like to see turtles
360
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and the whales and the dolphins and the sharks and
361
00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:41.720
all the rest of the marine life that lives out there,
362
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because we're damaging it and we're damaging them and.
363
00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:48.160
We're all connected though, We're all connected.
364
00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:50.319
And that was the one thing that really stood out
365
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:54.240
with this last mission to the Moon with the astronauts,
366
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and one of their quotes.
367
00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:58.839
Was they looked back and you know, and all the.
368
00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:02.680
Vastness and the only living thing was planet Earth and
369
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it was just one living planet.
370
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And that living planet it.
371
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Encompasses us and all the critters, including the sea turtles.
372
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And it's really something you know, that puts it into perspective.
373
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You know, everything is connected.
374
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Most definitely, and making me want to break out in
375
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the sun like the circle of life or something.
376
00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:24.599
Right, Yeah, it is.
377
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And sea turtles are one of the oldest animals known
378
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to man, so they were in the oceans when dinosaurs
379
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were on the land, which is, you know, really hard
380
00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.759
for us to even conceive that. But that's why I
381
00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.160
think it's so important to protect sea turtles, something that
382
00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:44.279
has survived our oceans for over one hundred and ten.
383
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Million years that is threatened to be extinct on our watch.
384
00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:50.960
So it is very important. They're what we.
385
00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:55.240
Call a sentinel or keystone species, and that it means
386
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they're an indicator species. So what is happening to them
387
00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:01.319
is eventually going to happen to all life. So it's
388
00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:04.279
really important to pay attention to what is happening with
389
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:05.000
sea turtles.
390
00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:09.759
Yes, I totally agree. I totally agree, But you know, I,
391
00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:11.960
like I said, a lot of people don't believe some
392
00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.680
of the stuff that is out there, but you know,
393
00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:19.079
and I can't say it's all us either. We do
394
00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:23.000
have environmental change naturally as well too, But I mean
395
00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:25.759
there's a lot of stuff that we could be doing
396
00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.079
that we're not doing, And we're putting plastics and stuff
397
00:19:28.119 --> 00:19:30.039
like that in the oceans, and these turtles get caught
398
00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:32.559
in those too. That's another big thing, you know, like
399
00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:34.880
the can rings and the bottle rings and stuff like that.
400
00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:38.119
They get caught in those and I don't know do
401
00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:41.559
turtles actually like swallow those kinds of things as well
402
00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:43.079
while they're eating.
403
00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:44.599
Or anything they do.
404
00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:48.440
And sea turtles are opportunistic feeders, which means if.
405
00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:49.920
It's in front of them, they're going to try to
406
00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:55.559
eat it. What is really disheartening a baby sea turtle.
407
00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:57.960
Or a hatchling when they spend the first couple of
408
00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:00.440
years of life in the Sargasso.
409
00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:03.119
See, and that is in the golf stream current.
410
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:06.119
And unfortunately, the other thing that ends up in that
411
00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:09.359
golf stream current are all our plastics that break down.
412
00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:11.279
So I have people ask me, well, you know how
413
00:20:11.319 --> 00:20:13.680
big a piece of plastic can kill a sea turtle? Well,
414
00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:17.039
if you're a sea turtle hashling, that is about the
415
00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:19.599
size that would fit in the palm of your hand.
416
00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:21.680
They hatch out of an egg the size of a
417
00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:24.839
ping pong ball, and they go out into that golf stream,
418
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:30.160
and a bb sized piece of plastic can get you know,
419
00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:34.039
blocked intestines and kill a sea turtle. So the plastics
420
00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:36.119
that are in our oceans and they go in this
421
00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:39.599
golf stream current and they break down, but they don't
422
00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:42.160
go away, and they become these little you know, small
423
00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:45.720
pieces of plastic and they're doing studies and in the
424
00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:48.240
post hatchlings we call them, that's the ones that have
425
00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:50.039
been out in that golf stream for a year or
426
00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:54.240
two when they are there's a mortality event and we
427
00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:57.400
see those turtles and we nee cropsium. We find that
428
00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:00.400
they have a gut and intestines full of plastics and
429
00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:03.839
they haven't found any post hatchlings that don't have, you know,
430
00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:05.160
a stomach full of plastic.
431
00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:11.480
Wow, that's that's disheartening, you know, I mean, it really is, really.
432
00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:14.400
Is it's it is sad, but it really makes you realize,
433
00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:17.920
you know, how critical it is to reduce the use
434
00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:20.480
of plastics and the ones that are that we do
435
00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:22.799
use and make sure that they don't end up in
436
00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:24.200
our water streams.
437
00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:28.119
Lots of work to do, everybody, lots of work.
438
00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:31.920
To do we do, But you know, I have hope, Laurie.
439
00:21:32.039 --> 00:21:34.359
There's a lot of awareness out there, I think more
440
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:38.160
than ever with technology and the internet and social media
441
00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:41.599
compared to you know, the eighties when I was growing up,
442
00:21:41.880 --> 00:21:44.400
there is a lot more awareness and that really is
443
00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:46.880
the first step is for people to learn and become
444
00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.559
aware and then make better choices.
445
00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:52.119
Oh, I totally agree. I totally agree. I advocate for
446
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:56.359
a lot of different things. You know, I mentioned frequently
447
00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:59.079
about the wild mustangs and everything that's being done with
448
00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:03.680
them because of BLM, and you know, dog and cat rescues.
449
00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:05.720
I worked with those a lot, and in fact, I'm
450
00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:09.359
with my Lions Club. We're doing an adoption event pet
451
00:22:09.400 --> 00:22:12.160
adoption event here at the beginning of June.
452
00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:13.319
So nice.
453
00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:16.160
Yeah, so I've invited I used to do animal control,
454
00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:18.039
so I've stayed in contact with a lot of the
455
00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:21.519
different rescues and stuff, and I've met you know, new
456
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:23.920
ones as well, and so yeah, I thought, well, what
457
00:22:24.119 --> 00:22:27.480
better way than to ask them all to come. And
458
00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:29.640
the city's helping us and we're using the city park,
459
00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:32.920
and so yeah, what better way to have these guys
460
00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:35.039
come and have an event and try to help them
461
00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:36.400
get some of their animals adopted.
462
00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:37.839
So I love that.
463
00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:41.079
Yeah, my daughter actually lives in Tampa now, and when
464
00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:43.480
she was here and the keys, she did cats and
465
00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.559
she voluntd here with three different you know, of the
466
00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:51.200
cat organizations because there's a feral cat population challenge down here.
467
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:54.400
And she was really good with the bottle fed kittens
468
00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:57.200
and she from the time she was sixteen to twenty one,
469
00:22:57.720 --> 00:23:01.440
she you know, rehabilitated it and adopt it out over
470
00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:03.440
a hundred kittens, which is amazing.
471
00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:05.000
Oh wow, that is amazing.
472
00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.599
It is that there is a need in our communities
473
00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:09.519
for for that.
474
00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:13.519
There is most definitely there is, I know, and our
475
00:23:13.559 --> 00:23:16.359
rescues are always full at this point and it's you know,
476
00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:19.119
terrible to see, you know, all these animals life just
477
00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:23.480
going to waste because people won't spain, neuter or they
478
00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:27.440
just they they everybody's throw away society. They I mean
479
00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:30.759
they do it with the elderly and children and stuff too.
480
00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:33.480
But you know, let's just get a puppy or a
481
00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:35.279
dog and let's just get rid of it when it's
482
00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:38.000
not convenient anymore, but then turn around and get another.
483
00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:42.200
One, right that is yeah.
484
00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:46.160
So yeah, anyway back to sea turtles. So can you
485
00:23:46.279 --> 00:23:48.720
kind of I want to ask so the nets, I
486
00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:52.319
know understand, we all understand, like the nets and stuff
487
00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:56.079
can also get tangled around the sea turtles. You know,
488
00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:00.680
sometimes you just got to kind of bet more graphic
489
00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:03.640
and down to earth about things. What are some of
490
00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.680
the worst things you've seen nets that I can't talk
491
00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:09.799
what are some of the worst things you've seen nets
492
00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:13.160
due to the sea turtles when they get tangled in them.
493
00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:16.839
So one of the hardest things for me to see
494
00:24:17.079 --> 00:24:20.279
is a turtle that is, you know, sixty years old,
495
00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:22.880
has been you know, out in our oceans, surviving our
496
00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:26.640
oceans for decades, and they get entangled in a commercial
497
00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:31.480
trap line and if it doesn't drown them, a lot
498
00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.240
of times what we see is cut the circulation to
499
00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:36.799
their front flipper off for so long.
500
00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:38.799
That it has to be amputated.
501
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:42.680
So you have a turtle now that you know, relies
502
00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:46.319
on those flippers to survive in the wild and it,
503
00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:48.799
you know, loses a front limb basically.
504
00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:52.000
So we see entanglements.
505
00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:57.519
That cause, if not death, cause you know, flipper amputations.
506
00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:00.920
I've had one and olive re which we don't normally
507
00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:04.279
see in Florida, was in sixty pounds of fishing net
508
00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:08.880
and was emaciated and near death, but we were able
509
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:09.920
to rehabilitate it.
510
00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:11.359
But we we do see a lot.
511
00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:14.400
I mean, just tonight we had a rescue in Key West,
512
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:17.359
but it was a boat strike turtle and it was
513
00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:21.920
dead on arrival. So it's we do a lot of
514
00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:25.839
storytelling about the resilience of sea turtles and the ones
515
00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:29.759
that beat the odds and make it. And you know,
516
00:25:29.799 --> 00:25:32.799
for everyone that goes out, there's one that doesn't make it.
517
00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:36.119
And it's it's hard to see, you know this close up, Laurie,
518
00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:39.359
you know just what we're doing to our marine ecosystems.
519
00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:40.680
I can't stress.
520
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:44.319
Enough how important it is if you're out in the water,
521
00:25:44.359 --> 00:25:48.599
if you're fishing, diving, boating, and you see discarded fishing gear,
522
00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:52.279
how important it is to bring that back with you
523
00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:55.119
and dispose of it properly. You most definitely are going
524
00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:59.359
to be saving some kind of sea creature by retrieving that,
525
00:25:59.480 --> 00:25:59.880
for sure.
526
00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:02.839
Oh yeah, yeah, I'm sure they would.
527
00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:03.440
Yeah.
528
00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:06.000
And you know, there are some groups and people out
529
00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:08.079
there that do go out and they're like doing the
530
00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:10.359
beach cleanups and they're trying to clean up in some
531
00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:14.359
of the water and stuff, but it's very few. So unfortunately,
532
00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:19.400
maybe we start getting people to realize, you know, how
533
00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:22.200
more important it is. I mean, why do you got
534
00:26:22.200 --> 00:26:24.400
to throw your trash in the oceans and stuff like that.
535
00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.519
I don't I can't even handle. It drives me crazy
536
00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:29.799
when people throw their trash out of their vehicles. Out
537
00:26:29.799 --> 00:26:32.680
here or something like that. I can't stand that. That's
538
00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:35.759
a big pet peeve of mine. And my children would
539
00:26:35.799 --> 00:26:38.519
as they were growing up, if they ever tried to
540
00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:41.079
throw anything out of any trash out of the car,
541
00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:45.240
they got in trouble for it. And I've just as
542
00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:47.359
bitch a big pet peeve of mine because I just
543
00:26:47.480 --> 00:26:51.039
can't stand seeing the litter. And here in Arizona you
544
00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:55.279
don't really have the litter laws. So yeah, so I
545
00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:59.279
mean literally, I'm on my way going down the road
546
00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:01.799
the other day and got to an intersection with a
547
00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:04.119
stopway and watched the car ahead of me toss their
548
00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:06.960
cups of soda out the window in front of me.
549
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:08.839
And I was just like, oh no, you didn't.
550
00:27:08.839 --> 00:27:13.480
Wow. We got some work to do, like you said,
551
00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:16.079
for to educate people. Wow. Oh yeah.
552
00:27:16.119 --> 00:27:18.119
I couldn't believe. I was sitting behind him. I was like,
553
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:21.039
you did not just throw those cups out your windows?
554
00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:22.200
Goodness.
555
00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:27.400
Well, I have a good story, just just very revelute.
556
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:30.680
I went for a run this evening, you know, before
557
00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:33.759
I came back to do this podcast, and I was
558
00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.119
running on the beach and there was a young boy
559
00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:39.279
he couldn't have been more than five or six, and
560
00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:41.720
he had one of the buckets and the pick up
561
00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:45.880
like the pictures, and he was collecting trash and I
562
00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:46.680
just stopped him.
563
00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:48.359
I said, do you know you're an ocean hero?
564
00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:51.000
And he just you know, puffed up and was you know,
565
00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:53.960
he had a bucket full of trash. So you know,
566
00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:56.160
there there is a lot of good happening out there
567
00:27:56.200 --> 00:27:58.839
as well, even starting from a very young age.
568
00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:03.279
Yep, that's a good story. That's a great story. So
569
00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:06.000
would you mind kind of walking us through the journey
570
00:28:06.039 --> 00:28:09.720
of rescue turtle from the time you guys, you know,
571
00:28:09.799 --> 00:28:12.119
get called out and take him in up to his release?
572
00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:13.680
What do what all?
573
00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:14.119
I mean?
574
00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:16.519
Obviously you do different things for different things that have
575
00:28:16.519 --> 00:28:18.799
happened to him, but what does it kind of typically
576
00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:22.960
look like once you get out there on that call.
577
00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:26.119
So the first and most important thing is somebody is.
578
00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:29.000
On the water, they recognize that a sea turtle is
579
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:32.440
in distress, and they know who to call. We have
580
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:36.640
a twenty four hour stranding hotline that we manned twenty
581
00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:40.039
four hours a day. Florida Fish and Wildlife. They have
582
00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:44.400
an eight hundred number that you can call if you
583
00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:47.519
you know there's wildlife in distress, so one of those
584
00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:49.079
two phone calls can be made.
585
00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:52.880
But most of the calls in the Florida Keys.
586
00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:55.000
Come from people out on the water. We don't have
587
00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:57.160
a lot of beaches like the rest of Florida. We
588
00:28:57.240 --> 00:29:00.599
are Rocky Krwak Islands, so most of our turtles are
589
00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:04.240
found out on the water. So you can also radio
590
00:29:04.359 --> 00:29:09.279
the Coastguard on channel sixteen on VHF Radio, so a
591
00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:10.920
lot of our calls come in that way.
592
00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:13.160
Once we get the call here.
593
00:29:13.359 --> 00:29:16.200
The most important thing is for that person that sees
594
00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:19.000
the turtle that they stay with the turtle and keep
595
00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:20.039
eyes on the turtle.
596
00:29:20.680 --> 00:29:22.359
We have a lot of currents around here.
597
00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:25.359
If you leave the turtle, odds of us finding it
598
00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:28.200
again are very slim, so that's an important thing. We
599
00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:30.640
have people call in and they give us coordinates and say,
600
00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:33.640
here's you know, a turtle entangled. We had one the
601
00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:36.599
other day in a launch chair and you know, but
602
00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:39.400
those those turtles go away with the current and if
603
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:41.240
we don't have somebody keeping an eye on them, we
604
00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:42.279
can never get to it.
605
00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:45.720
So then comes the challenge of getting out to the turtle.
606
00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:48.039
A lot of times we'll go out with the Coastguard
607
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:50.279
on their boat or Florida.
608
00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:51.000
Fish and Wildlife.
609
00:29:51.240 --> 00:29:53.200
We'll get out to the turtle and bring it back
610
00:29:53.240 --> 00:29:57.119
to shore, and then we have LORI a Turtle Hospital ambulance.
611
00:29:57.160 --> 00:29:57.960
If you can believe it.
612
00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:01.960
It's actually a crew van that's fashions like an ambulance,
613
00:30:02.039 --> 00:30:06.160
complete with the flashing lights and rescue equipment inside. We
614
00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:09.240
have four of those, and we will pick the turtle
615
00:30:09.319 --> 00:30:12.000
up in the Turtle Hospital Ambulance and bring it to
616
00:30:12.039 --> 00:30:14.839
the hospital where it will come into our emergency room.
617
00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:17.599
It's going to look a lot like a human emergency room.
618
00:30:18.039 --> 00:30:21.599
We're going to take a weight measurements, We're gonna get
619
00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:22.200
X rays.
620
00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:24.599
We have digital X ray here at the Turtle Hospital.
621
00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:28.039
We're going to collect blood. We have blood processing equipment
622
00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:28.640
in house.
623
00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:31.359
We're going to get all that information and it's going
624
00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:34.279
to go to our veterinarian and he's going to prescribe treatment,
625
00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:37.079
which we start right away. A lot of times starts
626
00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:40.680
with fluids to high trade a really sick animal before
627
00:30:40.759 --> 00:30:43.960
we can start medications. And of course, if it's something
628
00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:46.839
obvious like a boat strike and there's bleeding.
629
00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:49.200
You know, or anything that the turtle you.
630
00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:52.519
Know, needs to be stabilized, that will happen as well, so.
631
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:55.160
It gets very busy in the emergency room.
632
00:30:55.640 --> 00:30:58.240
And then once the turtle is stabilized, we're going to
633
00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:01.079
take it out into the back the facility where we
634
00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:04.599
have twenty three hospital tanks, and that turtle is going
635
00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:07.000
to be tested in very shallow water to make sure
636
00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:09.839
that it can you raise its head and breathe.
637
00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:10.599
It's strong enough for that.
638
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:14.480
And then becomes the process, the long process of rehabilitation.
639
00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:24.519
Wow, but it's worth it. You're saving the turtle. So now,
640
00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:27.920
sea turtles they stay at sea pretty much all the time,
641
00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:30.960
unless they only come up on the beaches to lay
642
00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:31.400
their eggs.
643
00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:33.440
Correct, that's a good point.
644
00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:38.000
So baby sea turtle is a very solitary animal. Once
645
00:31:38.039 --> 00:31:41.519
they hatch out of the nest, there's no mom or dad,
646
00:31:41.640 --> 00:31:44.599
or aunt or uncle anywhere around. They just go back
647
00:31:44.759 --> 00:31:47.319
you right out into the big ocean, out to the
648
00:31:47.319 --> 00:31:51.880
Gulf stream and they live a solitary life. The females
649
00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:54.599
are going to come back to their natal beach, that's
650
00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:57.519
the beach where they hatched out on, and they're going
651
00:31:57.599 --> 00:31:59.920
to lay their nest. But that's not till they're twenty
652
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:02.559
to twenty five years old and that's where when they
653
00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:05.640
reach sexual maturity, the males are not going to come
654
00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:08.160
back to the beach unless there's a problem.
655
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:12.440
Wow, So is it kind of like in Mowana where
656
00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:14.480
the baby sea turtles trying to get out to the
657
00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:16.880
ocean and the seagulls are trying to get home?
658
00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:19.279
Exactly exactly.
659
00:32:19.640 --> 00:32:23.559
I actually ran the Disney Marathon dressed as Mjuana the
660
00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:27.279
turtles turton with Mawana, and I love that part of
661
00:32:27.319 --> 00:32:30.880
the story, of course, but everything eats baby sea turtles.
662
00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:34.839
Two red ant bites can kill a sea turtle hatchling,
663
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.720
so that's how sensitive they are. Everything on the shore
664
00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:43.279
eats them, from crabs you know, to raccoons, to the
665
00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:47.640
coyotes and dogs, and once they enter the water, you know,
666
00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:50.279
shore birds, fish, a lot of.
667
00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:51.559
Things eat baby sea turtles.
668
00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:54.160
And that's why the mama turtles lay you know, a
669
00:32:54.240 --> 00:32:57.680
large clutch. So each nest it contains about one hundred
670
00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:00.920
or one hundred and twenty eggs and will lay you know,
671
00:33:01.039 --> 00:33:04.599
three to five times in a season. And that's because
672
00:33:04.759 --> 00:33:07.920
a lot of things in nature eat baby sea turtles.
673
00:33:08.200 --> 00:33:10.480
I was gonna say, you guys happen to know about
674
00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:11.799
how many actually survive.
675
00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:17.240
Well, there are statistics they say one in one thousand
676
00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:21.680
makes it through their first year and maybe one in
677
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:27.279
five thousand to sexual maturity. So that is why we
678
00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:30.920
take very seriously when you have a mature turtle that
679
00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:33.559
has been injured. You know, it's so important to get
680
00:33:33.559 --> 00:33:37.799
that reproductive animal back into the wild to do its
681
00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:39.920
thing and help propagate the species.
682
00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:46.319
Yeah, no, kidding with ads like that. Oh my goodness,
683
00:33:46.680 --> 00:33:48.640
I know, I was just thinking about that. Is that
684
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:50.680
really what it's like? I wonder for them? It has
685
00:33:50.759 --> 00:33:51.000
to be.
686
00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:55.200
It is And another thing that if people don't think about.
687
00:33:55.240 --> 00:33:58.759
But as our climate is warming up here in Florida,
688
00:33:58.839 --> 00:34:02.279
the past four summers in the hottest on record. A
689
00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:06.880
sea turtle's gender is determined by the temperature of the
690
00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:11.000
sand when those eggs are incubating. Wow, It's called temperature
691
00:34:11.239 --> 00:34:18.000
dependent sex determination. It basically means hot summers have mostly
692
00:34:18.039 --> 00:34:22.000
females and cooler summers mostly males. And so for the
693
00:34:22.039 --> 00:34:26.199
past four or five summers they've had mostly female turtles.
694
00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:28.719
Not just here in Florida, but there was a study
695
00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:31.639
came out of Australia that ninety nine percent of the
696
00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:36.679
hatchlings were female. So those warmer temperatures are affecting the population,
697
00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:39.880
and we won't see that for another twenty twenty five years.
698
00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:42.880
How dramatically it is affecting it. But it is something
699
00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:44.039
that we've got to pay.
700
00:34:43.880 --> 00:34:52.679
Attention to most definitely. That's wow. Yeah, I can understand why.
701
00:34:52.920 --> 00:34:55.079
I mean, that's crazy. I didn't know that about the
702
00:34:55.119 --> 00:34:58.920
sand and the temperature and stuff determining the sex of
703
00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:04.039
the turtle. That's interesting. Yeah, learned something new all the time.
704
00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:06.800
Yeah, these turtles are up against a lot.
705
00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:11.639
Yeah, but I can say that they are incredibly resilient
706
00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:16.360
and ones that you know, have a little blood volume
707
00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:18.280
and things that mammals would not survive.
708
00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:20.360
And when we give them good.
709
00:35:20.199 --> 00:35:23.199
Supportive care, we can bring a lot of them through
710
00:35:23.239 --> 00:35:24.760
and you know, back to good health.
711
00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:29.480
Right, that's good news. I mean yeah. And then once
712
00:35:30.119 --> 00:35:33.360
you have gotten a turtle there in the hospital and
713
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:37.519
you've gotten them all, you know, through rehab and stuff
714
00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:40.559
like that, how do you actually decide how if the
715
00:35:40.599 --> 00:35:43.159
turtles you know, ready to go back out to the wild,
716
00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:46.519
or or if they're not quite ready to go back out.
717
00:35:46.519 --> 00:35:49.360
I mean, what do you guys use for determining factors?
718
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:52.559
That's a good question. And how we gauge that A
719
00:35:52.559 --> 00:35:55.480
lot is from behavior. You know, we look are they eating,
720
00:35:55.679 --> 00:35:59.440
are they are they foraging? Are they able to swim?
721
00:35:59.679 --> 00:35:59.960
Straw?
722
00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:03.400
We have some larger pools that we if we're not
723
00:36:03.480 --> 00:36:05.480
sure if they're going to be strong enough, we will
724
00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:08.320
put them, you know, in a thirty thousand gallon tank
725
00:36:08.519 --> 00:36:11.079
or that tidal pool is one hundred and sixty thousand
726
00:36:11.159 --> 00:36:11.719
gallons and.
727
00:36:11.679 --> 00:36:13.320
We'll see how they do in bigger water.
728
00:36:13.719 --> 00:36:17.679
We also monitored their blood work, so once they're off medications,
729
00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:20.800
we're going to repeat bloodwork two weeks after and make
730
00:36:20.840 --> 00:36:24.840
sure all their blood levels are still normalized. And so
731
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:27.960
it's you know, the blood chemistry and behave you know,
732
00:36:28.039 --> 00:36:31.440
observing them behaviorally are the two main things we look at.
733
00:36:32.239 --> 00:36:35.760
Okay, yeah, because i mean I've seen you know, looking
734
00:36:35.800 --> 00:36:37.679
at your site and stuff. I've seen a couple of
735
00:36:37.800 --> 00:36:40.039
videos and then when you were talking with Arthur and
736
00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:42.559
stuff like that, Well, you guys, kind of its kind
737
00:36:42.559 --> 00:36:44.800
of cool to see that. So we're going to have
738
00:36:44.840 --> 00:36:49.480
to talk about the zoom thing. That'd be cool to
739
00:36:49.519 --> 00:36:51.559
get to do the little tour and stuff and see
740
00:36:51.559 --> 00:36:52.159
the hospital.
741
00:36:53.559 --> 00:36:56.760
Yeah, it is, it's something different people really enjoy it.
742
00:36:56.880 --> 00:37:00.880
I'm sure. So when it gets fine to that day
743
00:37:00.920 --> 00:37:03.400
where you guys have decided that it's released day for
744
00:37:03.480 --> 00:37:08.440
the turtles, how does that release the day feel for
745
00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:10.599
you guys and your I mean you and your team,
746
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:13.320
I mean And have you ever tracked a turtle after
747
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:15.639
you release it to see you know how well it does,
748
00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:16.639
if it thrives or not.
749
00:37:18.119 --> 00:37:22.400
We do, so it's a big event. We make it
750
00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:26.599
a big event. A lot of that is to educate
751
00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:30.039
the general public. So we will announce as soon as
752
00:37:30.039 --> 00:37:31.480
we have a turtle cleared.
753
00:37:31.199 --> 00:37:33.960
For release and we have a release date. Sometimes we
754
00:37:34.039 --> 00:37:36.199
know a week ahead, sometimes it's just the day.
755
00:37:36.079 --> 00:37:39.639
Before, but we will put it on our social media,
756
00:37:39.800 --> 00:37:41.880
the local radio, in the local.
757
00:37:41.559 --> 00:37:44.280
Newspapers, and we have anywhere from one.
758
00:37:44.199 --> 00:37:46.840
Hundred to five hundred people come out to the beach
759
00:37:47.039 --> 00:37:49.800
to help cheer these turtles on as they go back
760
00:37:49.800 --> 00:37:50.599
into the ocean.
761
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:56.880
It is such an just an amazing.
762
00:37:56.440 --> 00:37:59.320
Feeling to see a turtle that would not have made
763
00:37:59.320 --> 00:38:02.199
it turned to the wild as a healthy animal.
764
00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:04.199
And people say do you miss them?
765
00:38:04.599 --> 00:38:07.480
And I really never miss them because there's always another
766
00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:11.239
turtle waiting for that tank to be rehabilitated, and so
767
00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:13.679
many of them don't make it. It is such a
768
00:38:14.159 --> 00:38:18.159
high to see them go back out. We just released
769
00:38:18.159 --> 00:38:21.920
a turtle for Earth Day, Natella, and she came in.
770
00:38:22.119 --> 00:38:25.039
She had horrific tumors on both her eyes. We didn't
771
00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:26.239
know if she was visual.
772
00:38:26.719 --> 00:38:29.239
She had ingested fishing line.
773
00:38:29.880 --> 00:38:32.079
She you know, a lot of times that becomes a
774
00:38:32.119 --> 00:38:35.320
mortality event for an animal. It gets stuck in their intestines,
775
00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:38.280
and we were able to help her get that passed.
776
00:38:38.760 --> 00:38:42.360
She had entanglement on one flipper that had cut off
777
00:38:42.360 --> 00:38:44.519
the circulation and we had to do a lot of
778
00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:48.480
work with Class four laser and massage to save that flipper.
779
00:38:48.559 --> 00:38:52.360
So to see an animal like Natella after months of
780
00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:55.880
rehab be strong and healthy and go out, it's just
781
00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:56.880
incredible feeling.
782
00:38:57.400 --> 00:38:59.960
That is incredible. I can't believe that poor turtle had
783
00:39:00.199 --> 00:39:04.880
all of that going on. I mean, my gosh, and.
784
00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:10.320
She crashed after her first tumor removal surgery and we
785
00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:11.800
didn't think she was going to make it through that.
786
00:39:11.840 --> 00:39:14.599
I mean, she really came through a lot.
787
00:39:15.920 --> 00:39:19.440
And we put satellite tags on maybe two turtles a year,
788
00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:22.599
but we're selected with that for a lot of reasons,
789
00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:25.199
because you are putting something on a turtle that you
790
00:39:25.199 --> 00:39:27.440
don't want to give a turtle that already may have
791
00:39:27.480 --> 00:39:30.079
a handicap like with a missim flipper or something another
792
00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:34.480
you know, brief handicap with that satellite tag. And they're
793
00:39:34.599 --> 00:39:37.880
very expensive. They cost us about five thousand dollars a
794
00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:40.679
tag to have the tag put on and monitored. But
795
00:39:40.800 --> 00:39:46.000
we have our most recent turtle. Mollie was our internet sensation.
796
00:39:46.880 --> 00:39:49.559
She was one hundred and seventy pound logger head sea
797
00:39:49.639 --> 00:39:54.480
turtle that had a ten point one pound tumor wire shoulder.
798
00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:57.800
She came in and was entangled in a trap line.
799
00:39:57.880 --> 00:40:02.960
She also had critically low bloodves i use. She it
800
00:40:03.079 --> 00:40:06.880
surprised us and came through everything and very strong and
801
00:40:06.920 --> 00:40:09.880
she is still out there with the satellite tag on her.
802
00:40:10.559 --> 00:40:15.559
She We released her in November with a satellite tag
803
00:40:15.639 --> 00:40:17.480
out of Key West and she went all the way
804
00:40:17.559 --> 00:40:19.440
up to Cape Coral where she hung out for a
805
00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:22.199
little bit, and she is back in the keys An
806
00:40:22.239 --> 00:40:25.320
area where the adult males are known to hang out.
807
00:40:25.719 --> 00:40:29.000
It's mating season, so we're hoping that Mollie, she is
808
00:40:29.039 --> 00:40:31.719
a reproductive female and that she's out there, you know,
809
00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:35.639
propagating the species. But you can follow her online, which
810
00:40:35.679 --> 00:40:38.599
is really fun. Again, the name of the turtle is Mollie,
811
00:40:38.679 --> 00:40:41.679
and you can go to our website at Turtlehospital dot
812
00:40:42.039 --> 00:40:45.760
org and you'll find a link where to follow Mollie.
813
00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:49.320
Mollie, Go Mollie.
814
00:40:49.800 --> 00:40:52.360
That's pretty cool. I like being able to see some
815
00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:56.280
of the different things. They actually I don't know who
816
00:40:56.280 --> 00:40:58.280
did it, who does it, what company? But anyway, they
817
00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:00.679
had to bracelets and stuff for you could track the
818
00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:04.199
turtles or the whales or whatever is. Yeah, so I
819
00:41:04.280 --> 00:41:06.599
bought a couple of those for my grandkids and stuff
820
00:41:06.639 --> 00:41:06.960
like that.
821
00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:10.599
So that's really fun. Yeah, it is. I mean it.
822
00:41:11.400 --> 00:41:12.760
It's incredible to me.
823
00:41:13.320 --> 00:41:16.400
How a turtle like Mollie can get so many people
824
00:41:16.440 --> 00:41:19.199
to fall in love with sea turtles people.
825
00:41:19.519 --> 00:41:22.599
You know, I feel generally, as human beings, we want
826
00:41:22.639 --> 00:41:24.159
to care about something.
827
00:41:24.719 --> 00:41:29.840
Molly's story just blew up across social media platforms. She
828
00:41:29.960 --> 00:41:34.079
has one video that has over seventy one million views
829
00:41:34.199 --> 00:41:39.440
oh video, so she's by far our most popular turtle.
830
00:41:40.159 --> 00:41:43.679
I'm getting ready to run an ultra marathon next month,
831
00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:51.159
and they raises money for the Florida Keys Cancer Foundation,
832
00:41:51.840 --> 00:41:54.519
and I'm running on one health and just helping to
833
00:41:54.599 --> 00:41:58.079
raise awareness that not only people get cancer, but turtles
834
00:41:58.119 --> 00:42:02.760
like Mollie get cancer, and our marine ecosystems and our
835
00:42:02.920 --> 00:42:07.679
planet everything again is connected and just following a story
836
00:42:07.760 --> 00:42:10.960
like Molly's just helps you to realize how connected we
837
00:42:11.039 --> 00:42:11.559
really are.
838
00:42:12.519 --> 00:42:16.280
Yeah, that's amazing that she's got to be such a
839
00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:19.400
big sensation. But you know, people actually like the underdog,
840
00:42:19.519 --> 00:42:22.000
and she had all that going on and made it through.
841
00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:26.719
So yeah, people do care. I mean, there are people
842
00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:29.400
out there that care. It's just seems like they're hard
843
00:42:29.400 --> 00:42:30.360
to find sometimes.
844
00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:32.159
Yeah.
845
00:42:32.239 --> 00:42:36.199
Well, fortunately in my line of work, when people come here,
846
00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:39.880
they leave, you know, they fall in love with sea turtles,
847
00:42:39.880 --> 00:42:41.679
and it's I feel like I get to see the
848
00:42:41.719 --> 00:42:44.239
best in people in what I do, even though we
849
00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:46.920
see the worst that's happening to our marine ecosystem.
850
00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:50.320
I do see people. It really changes the way they
851
00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:51.079
look at their world.
852
00:42:51.760 --> 00:42:55.360
Oh yeah, how they treat it well? Yeah, And I
853
00:42:55.400 --> 00:42:58.320
mean we've talked a little bit about climate change and
854
00:42:58.360 --> 00:43:01.039
all that kind of stuff, But how do you think
855
00:43:01.079 --> 00:43:03.480
therese changes in the I mean, well, you don't think,
856
00:43:03.559 --> 00:43:06.599
but you probably know. How are the changes in the
857
00:43:06.639 --> 00:43:09.440
climate kind of shaping the future of sea turtles at
858
00:43:09.440 --> 00:43:10.000
this point.
859
00:43:11.280 --> 00:43:15.320
Well, in the big way with the temperature dependent sex determination,
860
00:43:15.440 --> 00:43:18.000
I would say that's the biggest way it's affecting it.
861
00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:23.760
The disease I spoke about fiber papillomatosis. The temperature of
862
00:43:23.760 --> 00:43:27.559
the water definitely affects those tumors growing. It's a certain
863
00:43:27.599 --> 00:43:31.199
temperature range, it's a warmer temperature range. We used to
864
00:43:31.239 --> 00:43:34.199
only see it further south, and now we see it
865
00:43:34.239 --> 00:43:37.719
as far up in the United States, Texas and northern Florida.
866
00:43:38.400 --> 00:43:38.639
Wow.
867
00:43:38.760 --> 00:43:43.079
So it's affecting diseases like that, the algae blooms, the
868
00:43:43.079 --> 00:43:46.920
toxic algae blooms that we see with the warm waters.
869
00:43:48.679 --> 00:43:52.840
I've had two cases saxotocin cases, which is a biotoxin.
870
00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:56.360
I've been here fourteen years and I've just in the
871
00:43:56.440 --> 00:43:59.960
past two years seen our first cases of mortality event
872
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:05.440
from biotoxins. Well, and that has to do with algae
873
00:44:05.440 --> 00:44:06.639
blooms and the temperature.
874
00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:11.960
So it definitely is not looking good for the turtles
875
00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:14.039
at all. With everything that's going on.
876
00:44:15.320 --> 00:44:17.079
It is it is challenging.
877
00:44:17.400 --> 00:44:20.480
Yeah, sure sounds like it. I mean, the poor turtles,
878
00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:24.360
all this stuff going on, and then us people out
879
00:44:24.360 --> 00:44:27.760
here you know, and like we were talking about, we
880
00:44:27.800 --> 00:44:30.039
need to start doing better. We need to quit throwing
881
00:44:30.119 --> 00:44:32.199
our trash in the oceans, we need to quit doing
882
00:44:32.239 --> 00:44:34.360
a lot of things. I mean, what do you think
883
00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:36.960
would be the biggest thing in your opinion, that people
884
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:41.079
need to do that you know that they could help,
885
00:44:41.199 --> 00:44:43.599
you know, with protecting the sea turtles in their future.
886
00:44:45.880 --> 00:44:49.280
I think the biggest thing, as I get ask this
887
00:44:49.400 --> 00:44:52.599
question a lot, is to fall in love with sea turtles.
888
00:44:53.320 --> 00:44:56.280
Because when we love something, we care for it, and
889
00:44:56.960 --> 00:44:59.400
that's going to cover all the other bases. When you
890
00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:02.000
care for something, you're gonna want the environment that they
891
00:45:02.079 --> 00:45:05.639
live in to be clean and healthy. And that is
892
00:45:05.719 --> 00:45:09.440
everything from what you do when you're making a purchase.
893
00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:12.480
You know, if you're choosing something that's a single use
894
00:45:12.599 --> 00:45:17.000
plastic rather than something that can decompose, what you do,
895
00:45:17.480 --> 00:45:21.760
how you dispose of your trash is very important. What
896
00:45:21.880 --> 00:45:24.559
you spray on your lawn, even if you live in
897
00:45:24.599 --> 00:45:27.760
the middle of the country, stuff does not go away.
898
00:45:27.800 --> 00:45:30.599
That's something we have learned. We're very smart about that
899
00:45:30.719 --> 00:45:34.480
now that when you spray something on your lawn to
900
00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:37.400
kill something, it's killing a lot of things, and it's
901
00:45:37.440 --> 00:45:41.280
trickling down and it's getting into our waterways, and it
902
00:45:41.360 --> 00:45:43.639
is affecting all of life.
903
00:45:43.920 --> 00:45:49.119
So those decisions you make every day have an impact.
904
00:45:49.159 --> 00:45:52.400
And I think it's important again, if you fall in
905
00:45:52.440 --> 00:45:55.159
love with the things that live in the ocean and
906
00:45:55.239 --> 00:45:57.119
on our planet, it's going to help you to make
907
00:45:57.159 --> 00:45:57.920
better choices.
908
00:45:58.960 --> 00:46:01.719
Yes, I think so too. I think so too. And
909
00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:04.480
there's a lot. I mean, I'll be honest with you.
910
00:46:04.920 --> 00:46:08.039
I've talked to so many different groups and rescues and
911
00:46:08.079 --> 00:46:10.760
stuff like that over the years. And it's funny. I'm
912
00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:15.239
from Michigan originally, and uh, you know, and I've lived
913
00:46:15.320 --> 00:46:18.320
in the Southern States and in possums, and I was
914
00:46:18.360 --> 00:46:21.760
never one for possums. I just didn't really care for possums.
915
00:46:21.800 --> 00:46:24.880
But then I had this interview with this possum rescue
916
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:26.679
and saw some of the pictures and I just fell
917
00:46:26.679 --> 00:46:28.280
in love with one of the little possums that she
918
00:46:28.360 --> 00:46:31.159
had there she rescued, and it was like, so, now
919
00:46:31.159 --> 00:46:32.760
it's kind of like I look at possums in a
920
00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:33.960
totally different light.
921
00:46:35.039 --> 00:46:37.239
I love possums, rescue possums.
922
00:46:37.360 --> 00:46:40.480
Yeah, so it's like they're not as bad as you
923
00:46:40.519 --> 00:46:42.039
really think they are. And they do a lot of
924
00:46:42.039 --> 00:46:44.440
good things. So, but you know, I have friends that
925
00:46:44.519 --> 00:46:47.039
have horses and they're just like, oh, they don't they
926
00:46:47.039 --> 00:46:49.159
do not want to have any possums around.
927
00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:51.840
So more chickens that you don't want them in your
928
00:46:51.920 --> 00:46:53.440
kicken coop. I've had that challenge.
929
00:46:53.760 --> 00:46:56.159
Yeah yeah, no, probably not No, that probably wouldn't be
930
00:46:56.159 --> 00:46:58.880
good either. So but yeah, that's two funny. So some
931
00:46:58.920 --> 00:47:01.000
of them were some of the things you don't even
932
00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:04.480
think about until you actually either talk about it or
933
00:47:04.599 --> 00:47:06.599
you see it, or you know, you hear a bit
934
00:47:06.639 --> 00:47:09.480
about it, you know, to whereas kind of like, oh, okay,
935
00:47:09.519 --> 00:47:13.039
you know what, Yeah, I really like this. So same
936
00:47:13.039 --> 00:47:15.719
thing with sea turtles. Lots of people could be listening
937
00:47:15.719 --> 00:47:18.960
to this and start looking at sea turtles and things
938
00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:24.280
like that and go, oh, you know, yeah, So, do
939
00:47:24.320 --> 00:47:27.719
you guys have anything at the Turtle Hospital exciting coming up?
940
00:47:27.719 --> 00:47:30.079
Any kind of projects or research or anything like that
941
00:47:30.119 --> 00:47:30.960
you'd like to mention?
942
00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:32.480
We do.
943
00:47:32.719 --> 00:47:37.519
So we do blood transfusions here at the Turtle Hospital,
944
00:47:37.760 --> 00:47:40.960
and we have a population of turtles that are deemed
945
00:47:41.039 --> 00:47:43.599
non releasable what.
946
00:47:43.519 --> 00:47:46.920
We call bubble buts, or they have positive buoyancy disorder
947
00:47:46.960 --> 00:47:50.880
from both strikes and they're otherwise healthy. There are blood donors,
948
00:47:51.679 --> 00:47:55.280
so we're working with the University of Florida on a
949
00:47:55.320 --> 00:47:57.760
blood study and one of my goals for the Turtle
950
00:47:57.840 --> 00:48:02.039
Hospital is to become a blood bank for other rehabilitation
951
00:48:02.199 --> 00:48:05.320
facilities you know, up the coast, So that is a
952
00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:09.920
big thing that we are working on. We are working
953
00:48:09.960 --> 00:48:15.920
on chemotherapy studies. So this disease, the fiber popalomatosis, it
954
00:48:15.960 --> 00:48:19.679
has been you know, scientifically published. We are part of
955
00:48:19.719 --> 00:48:22.440
a paper with doctor David Duffy at a University of
956
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:25.760
Florida that shows that these tumors have the same.
957
00:48:25.599 --> 00:48:28.119
Genetic vulnerability as human cancer.
958
00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:33.760
So we're working on chemotherapy studies like electro chemotherapy and
959
00:48:33.880 --> 00:48:39.079
other ways that we can treat this disease from that standpoint,
960
00:48:39.119 --> 00:48:41.440
so that there there are some of the you know,
961
00:48:41.599 --> 00:48:44.000
interesting research projects that.
962
00:48:43.960 --> 00:48:44.639
We're working on.
963
00:48:44.840 --> 00:48:48.280
We have a permit application in to do an immunology
964
00:48:48.360 --> 00:48:51.800
study looking at the immune system of these turtles and
965
00:48:51.840 --> 00:48:55.199
why some of them in certain areas are covered in
966
00:48:55.239 --> 00:48:58.360
tumors and other turtles you know, not too far away
967
00:48:58.440 --> 00:49:01.920
or not. We have in water studies where we studied
968
00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:05.880
the local population of turtles. We found a bay here
969
00:49:05.880 --> 00:49:08.559
in the Florida Keys that one hundred of those turtles
970
00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:14.679
have tumors, which is frightening to me. But so we
971
00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:17.079
have a lot going on here at the Turtle Hospital.
972
00:49:17.559 --> 00:49:19.800
Well that's good though, I mean, I mean, it's good
973
00:49:19.840 --> 00:49:21.559
because you guys are doing a lot of good things
974
00:49:21.559 --> 00:49:23.360
with all that stuff you were just talking about with
975
00:49:23.480 --> 00:49:27.400
the you know, the tumor research and the becoming a
976
00:49:27.440 --> 00:49:29.239
blood bank and all that stuff for some of the
977
00:49:29.280 --> 00:49:32.760
other rescues. That's pretty pretty there aren awesome stuff to
978
00:49:32.800 --> 00:49:35.960
hear about. I mean, wow, you guys are moving along.
979
00:49:36.840 --> 00:49:37.280
We are.
980
00:49:37.360 --> 00:49:40.280
It's an interesting time, you know, in sea turtle medicine
981
00:49:40.360 --> 00:49:45.719
and research, and it is, uh, we are having challenges
982
00:49:45.880 --> 00:49:50.679
with our political environment is getting harder to get permits
983
00:49:50.880 --> 00:49:53.199
to do some of these you know, needed studies. But
984
00:49:53.719 --> 00:49:57.320
we are tenacious and we are gonna, you know, do
985
00:49:57.360 --> 00:50:00.320
what we need to do to help the sea turtles. Yeah.
986
00:50:00.440 --> 00:50:02.360
Unfortunately, I don't think you're the only one that's running
987
00:50:02.400 --> 00:50:05.800
into a bunch of bureaucracy trying to do stuff with
988
00:50:07.280 --> 00:50:12.079
rescued animals and saving animals and stuff like that, rehabilitating them.
989
00:50:12.119 --> 00:50:14.599
So yeah, I think everybody's.
990
00:50:14.159 --> 00:50:19.039
Still anyone feeling that, just stay strong and you know,
991
00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:22.079
you know, keep keep your goal in mind, and just
992
00:50:22.639 --> 00:50:25.000
you know, go through the direct tape you have to
993
00:50:25.039 --> 00:50:25.920
go through to get there.
994
00:50:26.320 --> 00:50:29.800
Yep, exactly, sooner or later your voice will be heard
995
00:50:29.800 --> 00:50:35.920
and you'll get what you need hopefully. Anyway, fingers crossed, guys, Well,
996
00:50:35.960 --> 00:50:39.400
we're getting towards the end of the podcast and we've
997
00:50:39.480 --> 00:50:41.800
learned quite a bit about sea turtles and the Turtle
998
00:50:41.840 --> 00:50:44.199
Hospital and all the great things that you guys are doing.
999
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:47.039
If listeners would like to go and take a look
1000
00:50:47.119 --> 00:50:50.960
themselves and learn more about you guys, or even you know, donate,
1001
00:50:51.039 --> 00:50:53.480
help support your mission or anything like that, where can
1002
00:50:53.519 --> 00:50:54.400
they find you, guys?
1003
00:50:54.440 --> 00:50:59.239
Add Online, you can find us on the internet at
1004
00:50:59.320 --> 00:51:01.119
Turtle Hoigh Hospital dot org.
1005
00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:05.559
That's org and across the social media platforms. I do
1006
00:51:05.679 --> 00:51:06.599
live feeds from.
1007
00:51:06.559 --> 00:51:09.360
The Turtle Tanks, so you'll get to know our patients,
1008
00:51:09.639 --> 00:51:13.039
and a couple times a week I'll go live on Facebook.
1009
00:51:13.440 --> 00:51:17.719
We share on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, So look
1010
00:51:17.760 --> 00:51:21.760
for us there on Facebook where the Turtle Hospital, on
1011
00:51:21.800 --> 00:51:24.840
TikTok for the Turtle Hospital, and on Instagram. You're going
1012
00:51:24.920 --> 00:51:28.400
to find us under Marathon Turtle Hospital, and you'll find
1013
00:51:28.440 --> 00:51:33.719
me personally under Turtle Betty. You can follow along in
1014
00:51:33.760 --> 00:51:39.239
my one Health one hundred mile Ultra Ultra marathon, where
1015
00:51:39.280 --> 00:51:41.639
hopefully I have the resilience of Malli to get through
1016
00:51:41.679 --> 00:51:43.559
those hundred miles.
1017
00:51:43.360 --> 00:51:45.880
No kidding. That's going to be a long marathon.
1018
00:51:46.719 --> 00:51:47.119
Is it all?
1019
00:51:47.239 --> 00:51:49.800
Is it all at one time or do you split
1020
00:51:49.840 --> 00:51:50.199
it up?
1021
00:51:51.079 --> 00:51:53.480
It's all at one time, it'll be overnight.
1022
00:51:54.199 --> 00:51:57.559
Oh my goodness, that's a lot of miles to be running.
1023
00:51:57.280 --> 00:52:00.760
Girl, it is, but I have a lot driving me.
1024
00:52:00.880 --> 00:52:01.519
So yeah.
1025
00:52:01.559 --> 00:52:03.800
Well, I wish you luck with your marathon. I hope
1026
00:52:03.840 --> 00:52:04.679
you do well in it.
1027
00:52:05.639 --> 00:52:06.119
Thank you.
1028
00:52:06.679 --> 00:52:09.000
And I'm going to post a link to the Turtle
1029
00:52:09.039 --> 00:52:11.320
Hospital on my Facebook page as well, so if you
1030
00:52:11.360 --> 00:52:13.039
guys happen to be on my page, you can and
1031
00:52:13.079 --> 00:52:15.920
you want to go check out their information, you guys
1032
00:52:15.920 --> 00:52:17.679
can get there from my page and you don't have
1033
00:52:17.760 --> 00:52:20.440
to go searching around. So I try to make that
1034
00:52:20.480 --> 00:52:24.320
a little easier for all of my podcast guests to
1035
00:52:24.360 --> 00:52:27.880
get noticed and stuff. But with that, you know, I
1036
00:52:28.039 --> 00:52:31.559
really appreciate you coming on and talking about UH turtle
1037
00:52:31.599 --> 00:52:35.440
rescue stories and about some of all these really cool
1038
00:52:36.119 --> 00:52:38.760
tidbits and stuff about turtles and what you guys are
1039
00:52:38.800 --> 00:52:41.880
doing there and how you all got started. That was
1040
00:52:41.920 --> 00:52:43.199
a very interesting story.
1041
00:52:44.800 --> 00:52:47.679
Well, thank you and thank you for helping to shine
1042
00:52:47.719 --> 00:52:51.880
a light on sea turtles and just remember everybody, compassion
1043
00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:52.760
is contagious.
1044
00:52:52.840 --> 00:52:56.519
So yeahs yep, exactly.
1045
00:52:56.599 --> 00:52:58.440
And I'm definitely going to check on my Lions Club
1046
00:52:58.480 --> 00:53:01.719
about doing because I think this would be really cool
1047
00:53:01.800 --> 00:53:03.159
to be able to do. So I'm going to check
1048
00:53:03.159 --> 00:53:05.079
with them and if they decide to do it, I'll
1049
00:53:05.079 --> 00:53:06.079
be getting in touch with.
1050
00:53:06.039 --> 00:53:09.199
You act only. Thank you, Lauren, thank you for all
1051
00:53:09.239 --> 00:53:09.719
that you do.
1052
00:53:10.119 --> 00:53:13.079
Well, thank you and you guys and your team and everybody.
1053
00:53:13.519 --> 00:53:15.360
Kudos to everything that you guys are doing for the
1054
00:53:15.400 --> 00:53:18.800
sea turtles too. But with that being said, I'm actually
1055
00:53:18.800 --> 00:53:21.760
going to talk about my next couple of upcoming podcasts.
1056
00:53:21.800 --> 00:53:23.840
I know, you know, being in the Keys there, you
1057
00:53:23.880 --> 00:53:26.119
guys are quite a bit ahead of me. So if
1058
00:53:26.119 --> 00:53:27.760
you would like to jump off, you are more than
1059
00:53:27.800 --> 00:53:29.679
welcome to you to go finish out your night, and
1060
00:53:30.800 --> 00:53:32.679
if not, you can stay on and listen. But like
1061
00:53:32.719 --> 00:53:35.039
I said, I'm just going to announce the next couple podcasts.
1062
00:53:35.519 --> 00:53:37.800
All right, thank you, Laurie, have a wonderful evening.
1063
00:53:37.920 --> 00:53:40.599
All right, you too, Betty, Hopefully talk to you soon.
1064
00:53:43.199 --> 00:53:47.920
All right, everybody. So that was really interesting and cool
1065
00:53:47.960 --> 00:53:51.000
to find out all these really neat things about sea turtles.
1066
00:53:51.039 --> 00:53:53.559
I'm so glad that she could come on and join
1067
00:53:53.679 --> 00:53:57.039
us and talk about the sea turtle rescue, her in
1068
00:53:57.119 --> 00:53:59.639
the turtle hospital and all those great people down there
1069
00:53:59.639 --> 00:53:59.920
are doing.
1070
00:54:01.079 --> 00:54:01.239
So.
1071
00:54:01.639 --> 00:54:07.159
For the next upcoming podcast though, on May fourteenth, my
1072
00:54:07.360 --> 00:54:11.239
podcast is Back from the Brink, the California Condor Story.
1073
00:54:11.960 --> 00:54:13.800
So I think it's really cool. I'm going to have
1074
00:54:13.920 --> 00:54:17.400
Kelly Sorenson on with me, and he is going to
1075
00:54:17.480 --> 00:54:21.639
talk with me about California condors and how they came
1076
00:54:21.719 --> 00:54:26.119
back from the brink. He is the executive director at
1077
00:54:26.119 --> 00:54:31.119
the Vintana Wildlife Society, and he's done a lot of
1078
00:54:31.599 --> 00:54:35.960
research on condors, I guess you might say, and has
1079
00:54:36.079 --> 00:54:39.079
worked with them a lot and the conservation of them
1080
00:54:39.440 --> 00:54:42.960
and educating all of us people out here in the
1081
00:54:43.000 --> 00:54:46.920
public about condors and again what we can kind of
1082
00:54:46.920 --> 00:54:49.880
do to help out, you know, with what's going on
1083
00:54:50.119 --> 00:54:53.719
and on stuff like that. So I'm thinking that's going
1084
00:54:53.800 --> 00:54:58.679
to be a really good podcast that I'll have Kelly
1085
00:54:58.679 --> 00:55:02.800
on with me to talk about condors. Yeah, and then
1086
00:55:02.920 --> 00:55:11.159
the one after that is actually going to have Matthew
1087
00:55:12.719 --> 00:55:16.760
my Luka, I hope I'm saying Matthew's name correctly on
1088
00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:22.000
with me, and he is from the honey Honeybee Health Coalition,
1089
00:55:23.039 --> 00:55:32.159
and we are going to be talking about honeybee health.
1090
00:55:32.920 --> 00:55:37.639
My podcast is actually called Buds Buzz Killer Breakthrough the
1091
00:55:37.840 --> 00:55:42.000
Truth about Honeybee Health because you know, we've been hearing
1092
00:55:42.039 --> 00:55:46.599
a lot out there about honeybees and how their populations
1093
00:55:46.599 --> 00:55:51.199
are declining, which is not good because they are pollinators
1094
00:55:51.440 --> 00:55:55.639
and they pollinate an awful lot of stuff that uh,
1095
00:55:55.840 --> 00:55:59.079
you know, we really don't want to not have pollinated
1096
00:55:59.119 --> 00:56:01.360
because then we don't get plants and stuff like that.
1097
00:56:01.480 --> 00:56:06.039
So anyways, so Matthew's with the Honeybee Health Coalition and
1098
00:56:06.519 --> 00:56:14.480
that is a group actually of different types of people
1099
00:56:14.559 --> 00:56:19.599
that have come together. Let me see honeybee high. You know,
1100
00:56:19.719 --> 00:56:29.320
the beekeepers, the growers, researchers and government are all involved
1101
00:56:29.400 --> 00:56:33.719
in this coalition and they are doing a lot of
1102
00:56:34.639 --> 00:56:40.039
research and you know, trying to implement solutions that can
1103
00:56:40.960 --> 00:56:45.320
help honey bee health population and be healthy. And you know,
1104
00:56:45.519 --> 00:56:49.800
because again you know, they're the pollinators in our agricultural systems,
1105
00:56:49.840 --> 00:56:51.840
in our ecosystems, and if we don't have them, we
1106
00:56:51.880 --> 00:56:54.679
don't have plants. So that's probably not a good thing
1107
00:56:54.719 --> 00:56:57.639
if we lose our honeybees. So yeah, so he'll be
1108
00:56:57.719 --> 00:57:00.880
on on May twenty eighth, so I'll be talking with
1109
00:57:00.960 --> 00:57:04.519
Matthew about from the Honeybee Coalition about honeybees and their
1110
00:57:04.559 --> 00:57:08.159
health and what all the coalition does to try to
1111
00:57:08.199 --> 00:57:11.800
help the honey bees help. So those are going to
1112
00:57:11.880 --> 00:57:16.360
be two really good podcasts, so don't forget. On May fourteenth,
1113
00:57:16.400 --> 00:57:20.440
Back from the Brink, the California condor story, and on
1114
00:57:20.519 --> 00:57:26.800
May twenty eighth, Buzzkiller break Through the Real truth about
1115
00:57:26.840 --> 00:57:30.559
the honeybee health. So I'm looking forward to all of those.
1116
00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:35.840
And yeah, that's pretty much it for the podcast tonight, everybody.
1117
00:57:35.880 --> 00:57:38.159
I'm glad you all could join in. And I hope
1118
00:57:38.159 --> 00:57:44.800
you found the Sea Turtles shell Yeah rescue stories a
1119
00:57:44.920 --> 00:57:47.599
hit and you all enjoyed it, and yeah, go learn
1120
00:57:47.599 --> 00:57:50.039
some more about sea turtles and about the Turtle Hospital
1121
00:57:50.079 --> 00:57:52.320
and if you can, you know, make a donation to
1122
00:57:52.360 --> 00:57:54.960
those guys and help them out. I'm sure they'd appreciate it.
1123
00:57:55.079 --> 00:57:57.880
So and With that being said, I hope you guys
1124
00:57:57.920 --> 00:58:01.800
all have a great weekend. Try to stay safe out there,
1125
00:58:02.440 --> 00:58:07.280
and remember, guys, we are the caretakers of the planet
1126
00:58:07.320 --> 00:58:09.760
that we're on, so let's try taking care of it
1127
00:58:09.800 --> 00:58:12.960
a little bit better and helping out all these different
1128
00:58:13.559 --> 00:58:16.199
animals that need to help the marine life and all
1129
00:58:16.239 --> 00:58:19.239
the different wild animals out there in the forests and
1130
00:58:19.280 --> 00:58:21.559
in the trees and in the jungles and stuff too.
1131
00:58:21.639 --> 00:58:24.519
I mean, you know, this stuff affects them all, so
1132
00:58:25.159 --> 00:58:27.119
let's try to be a little more conscious of what
1133
00:58:27.239 --> 00:58:30.519
we're doing. But anyway, all right, like I said, you
1134
00:58:30.519 --> 00:58:32.639
guys all have a great weekend. Don't foret to come
1135
00:58:32.639 --> 00:58:35.840
on back on May fourteenth for the next podcast, and
1136
00:58:36.199 --> 00:58:38.360
hopefully you guys can make it all right.
1137
00:58:38.760 --> 00:58:39.320
Buy for now