Related: Gumbo Limbo loses its sea turtle hospital
By Steve Plunkett
A 2-year-old nonprofit started by two former Gumbo Limbo Nature Center employees is seeking a state permit to give veterinary care to sick or injured sea turtles.
When their application is approved, their Sea Turtle Care and Conservation Specialists LLC will become the second sea turtle hospital in Palm Beach County after the June collapse of the nonprofit Coastal Stewards’ rehab center at Gumbo Limbo.
The ex-employees, Whitney Crowder and Emily Mercier, lost their jobs helping sea turtles at Gumbo Limbo in March 2023 as Boca Raton transitioned turtle care at the city-operated nature center to the Coastal Stewards.
Also involved with the STCCS are fellow Boca Raton resident Samantha Clark, who spent eight years at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach caring for turtle patients; Dr. Maria Chadam, Gumbo Limbo’s former on-call veterinarian; Dr. Charles Manire, Loggerhead Marinelife’s former vet; and Kirt Rusenko, Boca Raton’s now-retired marine conservationist.
There has been no dialogue between the group and the city or the Coastal Stewards since the Stewards announced they were closing their rehab center.
“We have not been contacted by any city officials or Coastal Stewards people,” Clark said.
She said the STCCS handles “one or two (cases) a week, so it’s been pretty busy as it normally is at this time of year.”
The group rents space, not accessible to the public, at the Palm Beach Zoo in West Palm Beach, according to its permit application to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It already installed two 2,000-gallon tanks there to rehabilitate turtles.
“The space includes a complete AZA-accredited hospital suite, state of the art hospital equipment, necropsy space, food preparation and storage,” Crowder wrote the FWC in May.
The group submitted final documents for its FWC application on June 24.
When the permit is issued, the STCCS rehab center will join Loggerhead, ZooMiami and the Turtle Hospital in the Keys as the only sea turtle hospitals in South Florida.
In filings with the Internal Revenue Service, the group reported raising $6,156 in contributions and having $4,546 in expenses in 2023, a healthier $61,571 in contributions and $35,807 in expenses in 2024.
“We’re very fortunate to have those donations coming in,” Clark said. “It’s crucial that nonprofits cultivate those relationships with supporters.”
The group has a website, careandconservation.org, and a page on Facebook at “CareandConservation” where supporters can donate.
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