News Blog
Join us at Gumbo Limbo on Saturday, March 13 for our Fifth Annual Sea Turtle Day. Celebrate sea turtles, marine life, and our oceans as well as our terrestrial species and habitats in a fun-filled family day of environmental education. All species and habitats are interconnected; learn what conservation actions you can take in your daily life to help make our world a better, cleaner place to live. This year we will focus on responsible fishing.
Visitors will have the opportunity to visit our new sea turtle rehabilitation facility, which will be open for the first time to the public. See our sea turtle patients, which have been here since early January when they became cold-stunned. Learn more about them by talking to our sea turtle specialist, rehab technicians, and docents. Say hi to representatives from the National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation, one of the organizations that helped us get up and running.
Gumbo Limbo hosted and coordinated an unprecedented event today by performing surgery on 35 green sea turtles afflicted with fibropapilloma. Surgeons, veterinarian technicians, and volunteers from nine organizations came together to treat this group of sea turtles.
Watch LIVE via CBS 12
VIDEO:CBS 12 coverage
35 SURGERIES TO BE PERFORMED ON TURTLES AFFLICTED WITH FIBROPAPILLOMA
On Tuesday, January 26, 2010, Gumbo Limbo is playing host to an unprecedented collaborative effort to treat 35 green sea turtles affected by fibropapilloma.
Connie Merigo and Adam Kennedy from the New England Aquarium Marine Animal Rescue Team, arrived in Florida on January 16 to help with the sea turtles affected by the cold stun event. In addition to the hours they have worked at Gumbo Limbo, they have done a great job providing updates via a blog. Read thier blogs by clicking here:
New England Aquarium Marine Animal Rescue Team blogg
Gumbo Limbo's new sea turtle rehabilitation facility had its first patient less than two weeks ago, but has already treated over 140 turtles.
We are so appreciative of the tremendous donation we have already received. Due to the number of turtles we are receiving, we still need more supplies.
General Needs:
Publix or Whole Foods Gift Cards – these are used to buy foods both for the turtles, and also some light refreshments for the rescue staff which have been coming in from multiple counties to lend a hand, often on their own time.
Target, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Office Depot, Staples Gift Cards – for purchases of materials such as bins, tubs, disposable items, files, pens, markers, copy paper, cleaning supplies, kiddie pools, and other consumable items. Our paperwork and disinfectant requirements for these guys is pretty darn extensive.
Gas Gift Cards – to help cover turtle transport costs, and vet, vet tech, and rehab tech extra travel
Animal Food - A/D PeT food Hills Prescription Diet
Lunches to feed 10 rehab staff and volunteers (with vegetarian options)
Pharmacy Needs:
• Baytril injectable (100mg/ml or 2.27%)
• Amikacin injectable (any strength)
• Fluconazole injectable
• Silver sulfadiazine cream
• Praziqyantel (or equivalent) injectable 56.8mg/ml
• MetaCam injectable (5mg/ml)
• BioGlo – fluorescein sodium opthamalic strips
• Terramycin ointment
• Vertrogen ointment
• Plasmalyte or Normosol R
• NoValsan ointment
Equipment Needs:
• Ophthalmoscope
• Blacklites for opth. exam
• General Surgery Packs
• General Abdominal Surgery Pack
• Doyenne intestinal forceps
• Ronjours
• Bone Rasps
• Food Scale - A&D HL-WP HL-1000WP, http://www.affordablescales.com
• Ferno Gurney - 24H MiniMaxx - collapsible gurney for transport, http://www.ferno.com
• Hard Plastic platform for gurney
• Turtle retention straps
• Slings for transport, large, small vinyl turtle slings http://www.wmblanchardco.com/
• Metal detector, SuperScanner 1165180, Garrett, http://garrett.com/security/s_superscanner_key.htm
• Doppler blood flow monitor
• Headphones for doppler, Office Depot
• High Resolution Computer Monitor for reviewing radiographs
• Computer for patient files and records
• Power back -up for computer
• Data back-up for Computer
• Internet connection – wiring and ongoing service
Medical Related Needs
• Huck towels
• Adherent drapes
• Surgical prep kits
• Monoject luerlock syringes (1, 3, 6, 12, 35, 60 ml)
• Green top 3ml blood collection tube
• IV set
• Catheters
• CG8 Cartridge for IStat B – 6+ cartridges
• G Cartridge for IStat B
• Sharps box
• Markel mouth Prop, Small Child, MP48, HU-FRIEDY, http://www.hu-friedy.com
• Markel mouth Prop, Child, MP52, HU-FRIEDY, http://www.hu-friedy.com
• Markel mouth Prop, Adult, MP54, HU-FRIEDY, http://www.hu-friedy.com
• McKesson mouth prop, Large Adult, MP58, HU-FRIEDY, http://www.hu-friedy.com
• StatSpin* MP Multipurpose Centrifuge, No. 22-314934, http://www.fishersci.com/ OR StatSpin* MP Multipurpose Centrifuge Certified Used Appex, http://vet.apexx-equipment.com/
Call 561-338-8110 for infomation.
The Rehabilitation Center is running low on necessary supplies due to the “Cold Stunned” turtle emergency.
The Boca Raton Sea Turtle Program has received its first five sea turtle patients in the newly built Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center! The juvenile green turtles weighing between 5 and 60 lbs were captured in the St. Lucie Power Plant intake canal. Sea turtles can swim into the power plant’s cooling water canal. Once in the canal, the turtles were removed by a team of sea turtle biologists working at the site. The biologists noticed the turtles were lethargic due to recent cold weather. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) transported the turtles from St. Lucie to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center Monday afternoon.
The turtles spent Tuesday at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center for their initial exams. A team of veterinarian technicians and sea turtle biologists from both Gumbo Limbo and the Marinelife Center partnered to take photos, draw blood, take x-rays, and administer medications. The turtles were transported back to Gumbo Limbo and placed in their new tanks.
Gumbo Limbo’s sea turtle veterinarian, Dr. Mettee, and veterinary technician, Sandy Fournies, have started treatment. The turtles (named Frosty, Ice, Chili, Frio, and Iceberg) all appear in relatively good condition.
Currently, the turtles are getting acclimated to their new tanks. The Rehabilitation Center will be open to the public in the coming weeks, after all center staff and volunteer training is complete.
The staff at Gumbo Limbo would like to thank the Loggerhead Marine Life Center and their veterinary technician, Deb Mauser, for the tremendous help with the initial exams.
A SPECIAL BIRDING OUTING TO STA 5
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Join Gumbo Limbo’s Rick Newman, expert birder and the leader of Gumbo Limbo bird walks, for this special birding trip.
Southwest of Clewiston, near Lake Okeechobee, is a huge man-made shallow marsh that’s part of the Everglades restoration project. This area is referred to as Stormwater Treatment Area 5, or simply STA 5.
What makes STA 5 so special is the huge numbers of birds, sometimes in the hundreds, attracted to the waters and visible from the gravel roadway as we drive around the ponds. Designed to clean the waters from the sugar cane fields before they flow southward towards Everglades National Park, STA 5 has become a birder’s paradise.
Entry into the area is at 8:00 a.m. so we will have to get an early start from Gumbo Limbo. We’ll stop at the historic Clewiston Inn for a buffet brunch afterward ($14.99, not included in the price of the outing) and if time and weather permit, stop at another wildlife viewing location enroute home.
STA 5 has no shade so come prepared – hat, sunglasses and sunscreen, and wear closed toe shoes. Of course bring binoculars and camera; there’s always the possibility you’ll see something special.
Cost: $25/person for members, $35/person for non-members. Transportation is by van and space is limited, so register early. Water and snacks will be provided. We’ll depart Gumbo Limbo at 6 a.m., returning in the late afternoon.
Please register for this trip by February 11, stopping by the Center or calling the Program Hotline – 561-391-8110. Payment must accompany registration and is not refundable unless trip is cancelled. Trip minimum is 5 participants. Adults only.
For more information about STA 5 see http://www.audubonswfl.org/STA5.htm.
All of our programs are subject to cancellation 2 days prior to the scheduled date due to low sign-up. Please sign up at least 3 days before a scheduled program to help ensure that your favorite program will not be cancelled. Registrations will be accepted after this point if the program has not
been cancelled and if there are openings.
On October 8th & 9th, the 16th Annual South Florida GIS Expo was held at the West Palm Beach Convention Center. This year’s theme: "Doing More with Le$$" highlighted the ability of GIS and geospatial technologies to assist many agencies ability to get their work done more effectively and efficiently as we navigate these difficult budgetary times. The Expo is a bridge offering an inexpensive, local opportunity for training, data sharing, and networking. There was a day of workshops and a day of presentations, and nicely sandwiched in between those days was the poster contest. A chance to show off hard work of the past year, entrants submited their posters for the categories of: Best Project Presentation, Best Analytical Presentation and Student Poster. These groups were voted on by a panel of judges that took into consideration the poster's message, clarity, and cartographic elements. In addition to the category contest, there was a separate "Best of Show Poster "voted on by conference attendees.
This year the City of Boca Raton was represented very well in the poster contest. Richard Randall from Development Services won second place in the "Project" poster session for his poster: Soils Classification - Vegetation. Kirt Rusenko, Rick Newman, and Heather Iannozzi from Gumbo Limbo won third place in the same category, and then went on to grab top honors, capturing the prestigious “Best in Show” award their poster entitled: Using GIS to Track the Ocean Adventures of Two Logger Head Turtles. It was a landside victory!
Congratulations to Richard, Kirt, Heather, & Rick. They all did a magnificent job!
By Jennifer Marangos
GIS Specialist, City of Boca Raton
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