A common snapping turtle, “Pleb”, presented to us after being hit by a car several months ago. He had a very severe injury to his carapace. The lung was actually visible through the wound. We tried several treatments which had varying degrees of effectiveness. Eventually, we treated his wounds with vacuum assisted wound care (V.A.C. therapy). This entails placing a silver impregnated bandage over the wound and then incorporating a continuous suction on the wound. That is not a misspelling, silver actually has antimicrobrial properties and we have a variety of wound care products that have silver impregnated in them. A special sponge with a plastic suction tube is place over the silver bandage. Then, multiple layers of a sticky bandage called Tegaderm are placed on the area so that there are no leaks detectable. This is the hardest and most frustrating part of the bandage placement. It is all worth it in the end. Dramatic results were seen in a fairly short period of time with Pleb. Aquatic turtles present challenges with this method of therapy because they must be kept out of water when the suction is on. Stress reduction is a very important when treating any wildlife patient. To reduce stress, Pleb was placed in water to eat for part of the day and the remainder of the day he would be “dry docked” and the vacuum applied. We typically used the VAC therapy for 5 days and then gave him a break for a few days and then repeated the treatment again. Pleb’s wounds healed up great and he was recently released back to the wild in a beautiful wetland on Jane Bryson’s (Volunteer extraordinaire) property. We would like to thank Faith at the Kinetic Concepts, Inc (KCI) for being instrumental in providing the necessary equipment to perform V.A.C. therapy on our patients.

Sincerely,
Dr. Terry Norton

Cruella de Vil is a green sea turtle that was sent to us for long term care by the New England Aquarium. Cruella was a “cold stun victim” and was found stranded in the Cape Cod, MA area. Hypothermia often leads to many secondary problems such as fungal and bacterial diseases. Cruella developed a very unusual and severe bone infection of the shell. We collected biopsy specimens and made a diagnosis of bacterial osteomyelitis (bone infection) and tried everything we could think of to treat the wounds. In some instances the best therapy is too expensive and we have to get creative to make things happen. We contacted Dr. Sasser, an orthopedic surgeon from Brunswick, GA, about obtaining some bone cement that we could incorporate antibiotics that were sensitive to the bacteria that we cultured and apply it topically to the wound. Dr. Sasser found some recently expired bone cement for us and we mixed it up with an antibiotic called amikacin. We placed the bone cement directly on the wounds and left it there for about 4 weeks. The antibiotics are released at very high concentrations directly on the wound over an extended period of time. This was the ticket to finally allow Cruella’s wounds to heal. The first application only covered half the wounds so we needed to obtain more of the cement which is about $1500 for one application. At the Jekyll Island Foundation Family weekend in June, we were able to auction Cruella’s treatment off to several generous concerned local citizens and employees of Jekyll Island Authority. Thank you so much for your generous contribution to Cruella’s therapy. In the end the company that actually makes the bone cement donated the next batch. After months of therapy, Cruella’s wounds are finally healed. She should be able to be released before the weather gets to cold.

Sincerely,
Dr. Terry Norton

We’ve been getting a number of emails once again regarding Dylan’s tracking so I thought it best to write a BLOG! Sometimes it’s a waiting game with the transmissions…BE PATIENT and don’t always assume the worst! In certain areas the signals can be jammed (i.e. Canaveral), the satellite orbits might be off, the seas could be very rough not allowing signals to be transmitted, or the turtle might be spending a lot of time underwater, not allowing us to get very good signals.

Just as Bev’s signal was ‘lost’ for a while, but started transmitting again recently. Just as Spitfire and Vida’s signals were ‘lost’ for a time (coincidentally, the same time! but then again they were in the same ‘area’ as one another…), but again came back. Dylan’s signal loss may be temporarily. Her most recent ‘hit’ was actually on 8/17, albeit a low-class ‘hit’. A low-class ‘hit’ means the accuracy of the indicated location is not very good and thus is not plotted on the map. Her ‘hits’ prior to that, on 8/7 and 8/8, suggested that she was spending a LOT of time underwater, possibly resulting in bad satellite timing. Also, looking at her location, she IS near Canaveral….

We will just have to wait patiently and see what happens, however I would caution you to assume that ‘something has happened to her’. Most likely it a transmitter/transmission/satellite problem rather than a problem with the turtle.

I hope this explanation helps! We’ll keep an eye on her tracking and see what happens!

Thank you for your concern and continued support of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center!

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Education and Field Coordinator

Can you believe how fast the summer flew by and that it is already time to head back to school? Yes, it’s time to put away your beach toys and towels, and time to start a new school year! A new grade level, get new school supplies and clothes… and Teachers, while you are finalizing your lesson plans for the year, why not plan a field trip to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center!

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center is delighted to offer students the opportunity to explore the wonderful world of sea turtles through field trip programs. Field trip programs last approximately 1 to 1.5 hours. These programs include a 30-45 minute interactive presentation (the teacher’s choice) including hands-on activities. The presentation is then followed by a guided tour of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center with one of the Educators and a Patient Update. We offer school group programs Monday through Friday at 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm and all programs are correlated to the Georgia Performance Standards.

Can’t make it to Jekyll Island? The GSTC can come to you! The Georgia Sea Turtle Center Outreach Staff brings learning about sea turtles and their marine environment to life for your group with specimens, interactive activities such as role playing and games! You can also check out our website and blog for up to date information about our patients or track our released patients online!

Last year we had approximately 4,500 students from 78 individual schools attend the GSTC for our school programs. So teachers, bring YOUR hatchlings to the GSTC for a turtle-riffic field trip experience; one that we promise they’ll never forget!

For more information about our school programs, outreach opportunities or to make a reservation, please visit our website, http://georgiaseaturtlecenter.org/schoolprograms.html

~Alicia B. Marin, Senior Educator