Related: Boca Raton: City changes tack on who should hold permit to house turtles
By Steve Plunkett
People who want to help endangered and threatened sea turtles survive have a new nonprofit they can support.
Two former Gumbo Limbo Nature Center employees, Whitney Crowder and Emily Mirowski Mercier, have started Sea Turtle Care and Conservation Specialists LLC, with a goal to “provide specialized care for sick and injured sea turtles, while promoting conservation awareness and action.”
Joining them is fellow Boca Raton resident Samantha Clark, who spent eight years at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach caring for turtle patients. And on the nonprofit’s board are Dr. Maria Chadam, Gumbo Limbo’s former veterinarian, and Dr. Charles Manire, Loggerhead Marinelife’s former vet.
“Within our core group we have over 100 years of sea turtle experience,” Crowder said.
Crowder said she and Mercier have been “working tirelessly” getting the nonprofit up and running and have helped other turtle groups “behind the scenes” to release hatchlings offshore since they lost their city jobs in March.
Their group has a website, seaturtlecareandconservationspecialists.org, and a page on Facebook at “CareandConservation” where supporters can make donations.
“It’s a huge labor of love,” Crowder said.
She said her new group does not directly compete with the nonprofit Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards, which is in the process of getting state permission to treat turtles at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
“The entire sea turtle community is a family,” Crowder said. “The sea turtles need us, and that’s what we’re here to do.”
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