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THANK YOU, to everyone who made it possible to complete 35 surgeries
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.
VIDEO: WARNING - actual surgery - a closer look at surgery
Thank you to Disney Wildlife Programs, The Georgia Sea Turtle Center, Loggerhead Marine Life Center of Juno Beach, The Sea Turtle Hospital of Marathon Florida, Florida Atlantic University, The Animal Specialty Eye Clinic of West Palm and Deerfield Beaches, The Highland Beach Sea Turtle Volunteer Program, and our Gumbo Limbo staff and volunteers for an amazingly successful effort.
A special thank you to our new sea turtle rehabilitation staff: veterinarian Dr. Nancy Mettee for bringing these organizations together and initiating the event, and to our veterinarian technician Sandy Fournies for her tireless efforts during the past three weeks.
Thank you as well to Dr. Kirt Rusenko for making this vision of Gumbo Limbo a reality. Thank you to Cody Mott for his talent in managing the project. And congratulations to our entire team of staff and volunteers for their dedication and hard work in creating this success and playing a valuable part in conservation and public education.
Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Inc. also thanks the City of Boca Raton Parks and Recreation Department for their partnership and dedication in making this project not only a reality but an unimagined success. A personal thank you to Deputy Director Buddy Parks for his personal commitment to this program and Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
Thank you to Florida Atlantic University for their expertise of researchers and graduate students and also for allowing us to borrow space in their research facility to house the turtles over the past several weeks.
And thank you to all who have donated time, money, and goods to help us carry out this work. Because you circulated our story through social media, Gumbo Limbo has received more than $17,000 in donations from supporters in the past three weeks. We also received a $5000 emergency grant from Disney World Wildlife Conservation Fund. We intend to send letters thanking all of you. Please be patient with us as we catch up from this phenomenal event. You will receive a thank you letter in the mail as quickly as we can process your donations.
Our current expenses to date total $15,000. We will host these 35 turtles over the next 4-6 weeks as they recover from surgery and we will continue to incur costs to treat them. If you have not yet made a donation and would like to contribute, please contact Mike at 561-391-8110.
And finally, thank you to all our media partners who did such an excellent job of getting this story out to the public. When we consider the likelihood that environmental toxicity is a major contributing factor in sea turtle fibropapilloma, the story becomes relevant to everyone. We all need clean water, air, and food to live.
Thank you all once again for your continued support and your dedication to healthy communities and a clean a natural environment that embraces all living things
Please visit our Facebook page and our website for the full story and media coverage. Hope to see you at the center soon. Why not become a member and try some of our public programs?
Best,
Mike Zewe
Development Officer
Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Inc.