The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
By sponsoring the care of sea turtle Ziptie you'll be supporting the Sea Turtle Hospital and the work we do to research, rehab and release these amazing animals. Your sponsorship can provide Ziptie important medical supplies, nutritious food, critical exams and other types of care provided while at the Sea Turtle Hospital.
Suggested amount to sponsor the care of a turtle is $50. We appreciate gifts above $50 as well.
For joining us, you'll receive a personalized certificate and choice to have it mailed to your home or emailed, along with a monthly email update.
Please allow 2 weeks for mailed certificate to arrive. Emailed certificates sent within 2-3 business days.
For questions about sponsoring, please contact wlmb@whitney.ufl.edu.
Our littlest turtle with a big diva personality!
Zip-Tie arrived at our hospital on December 20 and was our last patient named during our “construction” naming theme”. Zip-Tie was found washed ashore on the beach in Palm Coast (just seven miles south of our hospital). On arrival, Zip-Tie was in thin body condition, with just a few small Fibropapilloma (FP) tumors located in the inguinal region, and an old, healed boat strike to the right side of his/her carapace.
On intake Zip-Tie was buoyant when introduced into one of our rehab tanks. Our little high-stress patient would actively try to dive, but unfortunately his/her buoyancy would cause her to pop back up to the surface. This could have been part of the cause of the boat strike. Turtles typically swim within the water column or are found grazing along the bottom of the ocean on sea grasses. Sea turtles do breathe air like humans and need to surface to take breaths. Zip-Tie could have been surfacing for a breath when hit by a boat, but the animal could also have just been buoyant and floating at the surface. Either way, on arrival, Zip-Tie’s boat strike wound was completely healed. This is a great example of just how resilient these animals really are.
After several days of GI mobility medications along with fluid therapy, Zip-Tie had expelled lots of GI gas and feces and was able to dive to the bottom of our rehab tank and rest comfortably on the bottom.