Whitney Crowder and David Anderson check on Bruce’s wound. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Sallie James
A critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle that nearly became a shark’s lunch is the newest star at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, where he’s recovering nicely under the care of doting volunteers.
“He either would have gotten really sick and not survived or his flipper would have fallen off,” Whitney Crowder, sea turtle rehabilitation coordinator for Gumbo Limbo, said as she helped another worker lift the 40-pound creature onto an examination table so she could cleanse his wounds. “I’ve seen a lot worse. He’s pretty lucky.”
“Bruce,” named after the devilishly grinning shark in the movie Finding Nemo, escaped his hungry pursuer but suffered a nasty flipper bite that required 10 stitches, along with some deep gashes. He arrived at Gumbo Limbo on Feb. 1 after being discovered struggling in the waters near Florida Power & Light’s nuclear power plant in Port St. Lucie.
Bruce’s road to recovery may take several months, but his cure is about as sweet as it gets. The rare sea turtle is healing with the help of raw honey. But he’s not eating the sticky stuff, he’s wearing it. Gumbo Limbo workers pack raw honey into Bruce’s wounds daily, where it’s left for 20 minutes to promote natural healing, explained David Anderson, marine turtle specialist.
“Raw honey acts as a natural medicine, an antifungal and antibiotic. It will draw all the infection out of the wound,” Anderson said.
Bruce’s rescue comes at the start of sea turtle nesting season, which begins in March and continues through October.
The facility’s turtle rehabilitation center has 11 recovery tanks currently occupied by six green sea turtles, two hawksbills and three loggerheads in addition to Bruce, who will be released back into the wild when he’s healthy enough.
The Kemp’s ridley is the smallest and most critically endangered sea turtle species. It is typically found in the Gulf of Mexico and nests in a large group known as an arribada, Spanish for “arrival by sea,” on beaches in Mexico and Texas. Full-grown adults weigh 75 to 100 pounds with shells that range from gray to olive.
For now, Bruce is taking it easy in a spotless, 12-foot-diameter tank that’s pumped with fresh seawater 24 hours a day. He dines on squid and fish and regularly draws “oohs” and “aahs” from admiring nature center guests.
“It must have been hard for him because his arm was hurt,” Elliott Levine, 9, of Atlanta, said as he peered intently into Bruce’s tank to catch a glimpse of the turtle’s stitched flipper. “He’s very cute.”
The injured turtle’s luck wasn’t all bad.
After he was carried through the intake canal leading to the power plant, Inwater Research Group biologists, whose job is to watch for injured wildlife, promptly plucked him from the water.
Research biologist Cody Mott spied Bruce and knew he needed medical attention. After assessing the turtle’s injuries, he contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which located an open tank at Gumbo Limbo.
“We don’t see [Kemp’s ridley turtles] frequently on Florida’s east coast,” Mott said. “The most we have ever had in a year is seven. The majority of cases that go to rehab aren’t anything to do with the power plant. We just happen to opportunistically catch them.”
That small number of Kemp’s ridleys compares to approximately 200 to 400 loggerheads and 200 to 400 green sea turtles that make their way into the waters near the power plant, he said. He noted that an estimated 90 percent of the sea creatures that end up near the power plant are uninjured and released safely into open waters without incident.
“Anytime we have the opportunity to make sea turtle conservation real to people, it helps the conservation cause,” said environmental specialist Steve Weege, also of the Inwater Research Group. “This gives an opportunity for people to see a rare sea turtle.”
Sea Turtle Day
What: Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s 11th annual Sea Turtle Day Festival
When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. March 5
Where: 1801 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton
Admission: Free
Info: www.gumbolimbo.org
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