After the hatchling at 7:00AM, the presentation and feeding at the Sea Turtle Inc. was next. Only thing is it didn’t start till 10:00 AM, which is when the facility opens for visitors. When I walked in, I was amazed by how many turtles I saw. They were to the right, left, front, and back of me. I walked around and counted about a total of 25 ranging from huge to small ones. I was so happy to see how many volunteers there were and how helpful and nice they all were. Not one, not even one, was in any way negative or with an attitude. It just made my visit that much more enjoyable. It was neat, I was able to view the turtle that was being filmed on the live cam and wow was he huge. Major difference from what I viewed online.
After walking around the whole facility and reading the info on each turtle, I walked into the turtle shop to see if I could purchase a shirt. A sweet lady tried helping me purchase a shirt by looking for various shirts in my size. I purchased a shirt and a bookmark. I love them both! When I was finishing up my purchase, I overheard a lady tell various visitors that they are going to be starting the presentation. I went straight to the area and sat on the first row. Adrian was the one giving the presentation. She is from Michigan and volunteers there at the sanctuary. Wow was she informative and very kind. Man ohh man I learned quite a bit in that 30-45 minute lesson on turtles. Here is what I learned:
They first started talking about the hatchling that went on that morning. They were the second hatchling of the season to be born. These baby turtles are called baby Kemps. Two completely hatched at 4:30 AM and the rest followed along at around 5:00AM. Once they are hatched, they are weighed and measured. An astonishing 1/3 of 1 baby turtle will live once it has gone out into shore. So basically the nest of 120 turtles that made it out to sea today, none of them will probably live. That literally broke my heart to hear something like that. :’( Did you know that in warmer climate weather, in a nest you are more likely to have many female turtles and in the colder climate, there will be a lot more male turtles? Something else I learned was that all the turtles at the sanctuary, were turtles that were rescued from ashore. Many of them have missing arms or some arms shorter than others. Sad thing about this is that missing arms are not replaceable. Many of them are found wrapped around a net with lots of trash covering and suffocating it. Which is a big factor in the loss of these beautiful creatures. This is one reason why I love the idea of the plastic bag ban here in Brownsville, Texas. We are only allowed to use recyclable bags. Turtles favorite food is jellyfish so they mistake that plastic bag for a jellyfish and end up consuming something that is not meant to be eaten. Shown to us was also a picture of thousands of sea turtles, shells found in Indonesia. This is one of the biggest reasons they are endangered. These turtles are wanted for their meats, oils, and shells. Mexico is a historical hot spot for helping these turtles hatch in their nest. Mexico tries to do what it can to get these baby kemps, hatched and out to shore safely.
Ila Fox Loetscher known as “The Turtle Lady of South Padre Island” founded Sea Turtle Inc. in 1977. STI is a nonprofit organization and it’s main source of income are from public donations. Money donated is used for food, medications, heaters, filters, water, and electricity. Ila was known to dress up her turtles for various occasions. She gained the attention of many in which she was asked to come out on David Letterman and Johnny Carson. Sometime later, Ila’s health no longer permitted her to participate in the mission of STI. This is when volunteers stepped in and continued the work of Ila by preserving the sea turtles. Ila passed away at the age of 95 in the year 2000.
Down below you will see a picture of Gerry, a male adult who absolutely loves lettuce. As you can see in the picture, he thought he could eat it right through the glass. Gerry was found in the mid-1980's due to a hurricane. He was held back for growth research and as an educational animal. Gerry is world famous in that he has met David Letterman and Johnny Carson.
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I would definitely recommend this place to anyone. It is a great experience not just for children but for adults as well. I learned so much and know that I am able to share this great information with my students. It is definitely a different experience from where I'm located because it's an island and you have people walking from left to right. The huge similarity that I see here is the hot weather. It couldn't get any more identical. Overall I loved the experience and I will definitely be going back to take advantage of something so beautiful that is so close to home.
