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Hailey Clark, a marine biology student at Florida Atlantic University and a volunteer for the Coastal Stewards, releases Sparrow, a green sea turtle, into the ocean on July 10. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

The gift shop at Boca Rat

Sadie Hawkins, a hawksbill turtle being treated at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in this June 13 photo, was moved to Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach after the nonprofit Coastal Stewards closed Gumbo Limbo’s sea turtle rehab unit. Of the 13 tu

UPDATE: Coastal Stewards' president resigns after reducing nonprofit's staff; rehab center vet and coordinator have accepted jobs elsewhere

Visitors to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton on Friday could only view patients in the nature cent

The Roots and Wings ribbon-cutting party at the new headquarters in Boca Raton included (l-r, in back) Doug Mithun, Karyn Keil, Ted Hoskinson, Ashley Bacon and Mark Burns, with Aidalyn Magsayo (holding scissors) and Marcia Mithun. Photo provided

By A

ABOVE: Coastal Stewards staff members Dr. Shelby Loos (left) and Kara Portocarrero prepare to release juvenile green sea turtles that had been treated at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Loos, veterinarian and marine life conservation director, holds Terra

(l-r) Lauren Hitselberger, Dr. Shelby Loos and Kara Portocarrero work on Terra, the first turtle to be rehabbed at Gumbo Limbo since March 2023. Photos provided by Coastal Stewards

By Steve Plunkett

Armed with a new state permit, the nonprofit Coasta

Amelia Pollitt, 5, watches Morgan, a green sea turtle who was returned last month to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center after a stay at a Juno Beach facility. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky and Steve Plunkett

Four-year-old Jack Gray of Boca Raton

As the former marine conservationist for the city of Boca Raton from 1995 to 2021, I have watched the developments at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and the actions of the nonprofit Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards.

The Coastal Stewards have been in existence

Morgan, a resident sea turtle at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center from 2014 until being ordered removed last year, has returned and is now in the center's shipwreck aquarium, Boca Raton city officials announced on Jan. 10. Photo provided

VIDEO: Morgan bac

By Steve Plunkett                                                                                                

The year 2023 was not a good one for the nonprofit group originally founded to support the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.

Th

Related: Boca Raton: Former Gumbo Limbo employees start new sea turtle care nonprofit

By Steve Plunkett

The city of Boca Raton has a new strategy to regain permission to house sea turtles at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, but there still is no firm d

Stewards work to return animals to Gumbo Limbo

By Steve Plunkett

Before sea turtles can return to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, the state says Boca Raton must transfer “ownership or control” of the center’s two multimillion-dollar aquariums to the

Related: Along the Coast: ‘It’s like crazy’: Turtle season smashes records

By Steve Plunkett

The nonprofit trying to restart Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s sea turtle rehabilitation ward is expanding its focus to include human help for manatees, whales,

By Steve Plunkett

Six weeks after taking over responsibility for the city’s sea turtle rehabilitation efforts, the nonprofit group formerly known as the Friends of Gumbo Limbo has not applied for a permit to run the program.

“No, Gumbo Limbo Coastal

On April 25, the Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards and the city of Boca Raton entered into an agreement affirming that our nonprofit would have complete financial and operational responsibilities of the sea turtle rehab at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

The events happening at Gumbo Limbo are disturbing for true conservationists. As the longtime marine conservationist for the city of Boca Raton and co-founder of the sea turtle rehabilitation facility at Gumbo Limbo, I am very distressed at the lacka

Staff and volunteers at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center had to move nine sea turtles to other facilities because Gumbo Limbo no longer had a license to treat them. Photo provided

By Steve Plunkett

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s injured and recuperating sea