Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation

Injured and sick endangered sea turtles come ashore in Florida’s waters throughout the year. Sea turtles wash onto Florida’s beaches for a variety of reasons including boat strike, cold-stunning, swallowed fish hooks, entanglement in commercial fishing gear, fibropapilloma tumors, and other illnesses. The two most common sea turtle species that strand in Northeast Florida are the loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas).

Before the Sea Turtle Hospital at Whitney Lab opened, sea turtles that were stranded in the Nassau, Duval, St. Johns and Flagler counties had to be transported to facilities in Georgia or central Florida, and often spent hours in transit – time that was critical to the survival of the sick or injured sea turtle.

Not only did the influx of these turtles overwhelm the rehab facilities in other areas, but none of the surrounding hospitals were permitted to take turtles with fibropapillomatosis (FP), a viral tumor disease that is the most significant infectious disease among sea turtles in our waters.

Now, the specialist team at the Sea Turtle Hospital at Whitney Lab provides excellent medical treatment to rehabilitate debilitated and injured sea turtles, and can also treat turtles afflicted by fibropapillomatosis. The hospital uses specialist equipment including CO2 surgical lasers, therapeutic lasers to effectively treat FP tumors and other ailments including boat strikes, cold stun, and parasites. Our highly experienced team ensures that turtles receive world-class care to get the best possible chance to successfully return to the wild.

Once healthy and cleared by our veterinarian, the turtles are released back to their habitat and, in some cases, affixed with a satellite transmitter that enables scientists to further monitor their post-rehab movements. 

You can sponsor a turtle in our care and contribute to providing them with a healthy diet and all their medical needs. Sponsorship and donations to the hospital are vital to our success, and can be made here.