Sea turtles transported to Fort Fisher for release because of warmer water

FORT FISHER, NC (WWAY) —  An up close and personal view of sea turtles is a rare sight.

More than 15 sea turtles returned to the wild Tuesday.

The 17 previously cold stunned sea turtles have been in rehab at the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center, STAR center, in Manteo at the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island.

They were brought to Fort Fisher instead of being released in the Outer Banks because of the water temperature. It is much warmer in southeastern NC, so the turtles were able to be released sooner.

“Some of them require antibiotics,” NC Aquariums Veterinarian Emily Christiansen said. “A lot of times all they need is to be warmed up, fed, put some body weight back on and then we do a little bit of blood work to make sure everything is in good order.”

Several were tagged on-site so if they were to show up again they would be able to track their journey.

Depending on their size, each turtles was carried by staff to the shoreline or placed in the water.

“The longest one is from last winter’s cold stunned so that turtle was with us for over an year,” Christiansen said. “Most of them are from this winter so three to four months.”

Many visitors were surprised when a typical trip to the beach turned into a science lesson.

“I have taken a lot of wildlife classes in college,” visitor Andrew Dehlin said. “My major was biology so it was pretty cool to actually see some of the stuff that we learned about.”

For some 6th grade students from Western Alamance Middle School near Burlington it was their first time seeing the ocean let alone their first time seeing a sea turtle in real life.

“I thought it was really cool,” student Jasper Ross said. “The only sea turtles I have seen were in Finding Nemo. You don’t see that a lot in your lifetime so it was something different to see.”

“It was fun watching them go into the water and it was very interesting.” 6th grader Aaliyah Coley said.

“It was really cool because I have never seen sea turtles released and stuff so it was pretty excited,” Emma Curtain, student, said.

Dr. Christiansen says thanks to a mild winter they didn’t have a high number of cold stunned turtles compared to years past.

“It’s hard to see them come in sick but to be able to see them go back out and do what they are suppose to do you can see from photos and videos that as soon as they hit the water they take off,” Christiansen said.

There were three different species released including three loggerheads, two Kemp’s ridley, and 12 green sea turtles.

All of the names of the turtles were Dr. Suess themed.