Along the Coast: Tiny hawksbill rescued, revitalized, released
Source:
The Coastal Star
Date:
May 30, 2013
Easter the hawksbill turtle had its own resurrection, thanks to Delray Beach resident Joan Lorne.
The teacher’s aide was walking along the beach with her twin brother, Tim Paller, also of Delray Beach, on Easter Sunday when she found the young turtle.
As a sea turtle monitor, she watches out for hatchlings and nests along a three-mile shoreline from southern Ocean Ridge to northern Delray Beach and scours the beach to mark nests before the cleaning crews come in. She also rescues stranded hatchlings.
As part of its community outreach efforts and mission to Stand for Something Good®, the Boca Raton Shake Shack is partnering with Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, helping coastal and marine ecosystems through research, education, preservation and conservation. Five percent of sales from the Glades Donut concrete will benefit Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, and Shake Shack staff will volunteer at events run by the eco-conscious organization
Hot wheels: 'Delray Beach Twilight Festival' puts a spin on everyday bicycling
Source:
Sun Sentinel
Date:
March 13, 2013
More than 700 amateur and professional bicycle racers will come together to support a handful of local charities and put on a show for spectators.
The second annual "Delray Beach Twilight Festival" will kick off at 10 a.m. March 23 on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. The event will benefit Kids in Distress, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and the YMCA Bike Program.
'Scent of Scandal' no garden-variety tale
Date:
March 11, 2013
By Doreen Christensen, SouthFlorida.com. Sordid stories about illegal smuggling and the resulting felony charges are as common as cloudless skies in the Sunshine State.
But this bizarre tale is not about drugs. It's about orchids.
Craig Pittman, author of "The Scent of Scandal" ($24.95, University Press of Florida), will visit South Florida next week to discuss the intriguing true story of the most-important orchid discovery of made in a century and how it nearly ruined the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota.
"I cover weird stories, like pythons battling alligators in the Everglades," says Pittman, an investigative reporter for the Tampa Bay Times. "But orchid smuggling is by far the weirdest story I've ever covered in 15 years on the environmental beat."
Hurricane Sandy Erosion Will Impact Florida's Sea Turtle Nesting Season
Source:
WLRN
Date:
February 26, 2013
South Florida's beaches in late spring through much of the fall resemble something of a crime scene, or rather, dozens of miniature crime scenes. Brightly colored caution tape and wooden stakes can be found scattered throughout the sand, sectioning off areas where sea turtles have left the water to build nests.
That tableau could look a bit different this year, says marine conservationist Dr. Kirt Rusenko, who is based at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.
Hurricane Sandy and abnormally high tides last year caused significant damage to South Florida's coastline. Beach erosion has been a problem for many coastal communities, including Boca Raton, where Rusenko manages the Boca Raton Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program.
"We've lost beach height and width," Rusenko said of the city's post-storm beaches. "The beach itself is about five feet lower."
Two months of hard work paid off Thursday afternoon when a green turtle was released back into the wild off the Boca Raton coast.
The turtle named Soluna, made her way back into the water. In September, Soluna was found tangled up in a fishing line by snorklers. She was taken to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.
Her right flipper was already severed by the line, and the left flipper needed to be saved so that Soluna could survive.
So long Soluna: Restored to health, green turtle gets send-off
Source:
Sun Sentinel
Date:
December 21, 2012
Touching beach and ocean waves for the first time in 81 days Thursday, the patient seemed to recoil from the water when the first swell hit her, inching west instead of east.
Giving the turtle a name was easy. Giving her back to the sea took months.
On July 28, a loggerhead turtle arrived at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center without a name, without a left flipper, without much chance of surviving.
Two fishermen had brought her to the city marina in Pompano Beach that Saturday night. A shark had taken the left front flipper. Her right flipper was nearly severed and, judging by the teeth marks, her head had been in the shark’s mouth.
“Sea turtles are usually only attacked if they’re already sick or injured,” explained Ryan Butts, the center’s turtle rehabilitation coordinator. “They float when they’re sick or injured, and that makes them vulnerable, so it’s amazing she got away.”
Butts and his team of volunteers named their patient Cindy, and nursed her for the next three months.
Her right flipper was sutured, her blood drawn to monitor glucose levels, her wounds cleansed daily and treated with honey, a natural disinfectant and antibiotic.
One hundred and four days after she was found off the coast of Pompano Beach maimed and bleeding, loggerhead sea turtle Cindy returned to the sea Thursday.
More than 500 area residents showed up at Red Reef Park to give the threatened creature a send-off — Gumbo Limbo Nature Center's first local turtle release since reopening its turtle rehabilitation in July.
Flashes popped and cheers swelled as she flopped onto a sandbar that Hurricane Sandy created and then disappeared into the waves.
"It's like the paparazzi," said Kim Gray, 48, of Deerfield Beach, who was there with her daughter, Samantha, 13. The two couldn't see Cindy swimming away, but the moment was enough. "I think it's great."
Turtles deposit eggs in record numbers, with a little help from their human friends
Source:
The Palm Beach Post
Date:
November 5, 2012
Ready for some good news? Who isn’t?
For sea turtles in South Florida, 2012 was a year worth flipping over.
Often in record numbers, leatherbacks, loggerheads and greens emerged from the Atlantic to deposit their eggs on these shores, where they were born decades ago.