Welcome home: Rehabilitated sea turtles return to Atlantic

Wednesday morning, three rehabilitated sea turtles returned home to the ocean with the help of animal rescuers and turtle advocates in Georgia and Florida. 

The turtles, rehabilitated by the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island, Ga., were released at the 10 a.m. public sea turtle-release ceremony on Main Beach in Fernandina Beach.

Jekyll Island Authority’s Georgia Sea Turtle Center, Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch (AISTW) and Keep Nassau Beautiful were all involved in the release efforts. Among the attendants were members of the Police Department, Police Auxiliary, Fire Department, city representatives of Fernandina Beach, other sea turtles advocates and members of the public. 

From first to last, Adam Lochstampfor released Hartwig, Morgan Flanagan released Alfalfa and Annie Gero released Wisteria. 

After each release of a turtle, the members of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center who carried the animals to the water watched and waited for the sea turtles to swim to deeper waters before they celebrated, which was followed by a roar of cheers and applause from the crowd. 

A hundred or more people attended the event, many snapping photos and videos on cell phones and cameras.
Sandra Baker-Hinton, longtime volunteer with Fort Clinch State Park said, said though there were a lot of people, there weren’t as many people as there have been in years past.

“Actually, it’s a little down from what it usually is, usually there’s a solid line all the way down … but It’s just nice to see this many people excited about the turtles,” Baker-Hinton said. 

All three turtles were juvenile green turtles and one of them had an amputated flipper. 

Len Kreger with Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch said “There’s three green turtles, they all, I believe, came from here originally and (were) taken up to Jekyll. Normally when they rehab a turtle from Florida, they’ll bring them back to Florida …”

Kreger said it depends on the turtle’s genetics and injury but rehabilitation can take a while.

Rachel Overmeyer, Rehabilitation Program manager for Georgia Sea Turtle Center told the News-Leader that Hartwig was rescued from Fernandina Beach on Dec. 23 of last year, Alfalfa was rescued on Jan. 22 from Neptune Beach in Jacksonville and Wisteria also was rescued from Amelia Island on Feb. 22.

All three turtles were stranded with cold stun, and Hartwig was debilitated. Alfalfa was the turtle missing its front right flipper, and Overmeyer said, when it was found, it had a wound exposing the humeral bone that prompted the rescue team to amputate. 

“It is not uncommon for turtles to be released from rehab with partial or complete flipper amputations. We closely monitor our patients’ swimming abilities, especially those who have undergone an amputation surgery. They must demonstrate to us that they are able to move around well in the water and that they are able to hunt/locate food efficiently and without assistance before being considered for release,” Overmeyer said. “Alfalfa has done all of this, his/her swimming is strong enough and he/she is able to find food and navigate enrichment pieces while doing so. Seeing that we felt comfortable in his/her abilities and that he/she would indeed do well in the wild.”
The sea turtle release was a last minute addition to the Wild Amelia Festival.

“It’s just a nice event, you know, this event came about in three days,” Kreger said.  

Mary Duffy of AISTW said it had been talked about for a little while “in the cloud” but it wasn’t until Georgia confirmed they were bringing the turtles down and Kreger agreed to coordinate the efforts that it actually became official.
The 15th annual Wild Amelia Festival ends Saturday; it began May 10 included events for adults and children. The festival exists for the main purpose of educating and spreading awareness of the diverse ecosystems in the area and the need to preserve them. Sea turtles are a major part of this.

For more information about Wild Amelia and the calendar of events, visit keepnassaubeautiful.org/festival/.
“People on the island, just are, generally very very respectful of the sea turtles. We work with lights and we work with different stuff and people work together, again, the city works with us and the county,” Kreger said.  

“It’s a great working relationship with all of them,” Duffy added. 

Duffy and Kreger both suggested that if anyone wants to learn more about sea turtles, to visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in Jekyll Island. 

“If you want to see sea turtles up close and personal, you can go up there and see how they’ve been treated, and see where they came from,” Kreger said. 

For more information about the center, visit www.jekyllisland.com/activities/georgia-sea-turtle-center/.

achandler@fbnewsleader.com