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Turtles get help from officials

The city is donating time and money to help the Clearwater aquarium care for eight rescued sea turtles.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published August 17, 2005

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH - City officials are sending their employees to help the Clearwater Marine Aquarium care for eight rescued loggerhead sea turtles and have donated $5,000 for their care.

The city is challenging others to do the same.

"Action is needed immediately to save one of our most precious resources. . . . Please join this effort with your donation, and we will all benefit!" says a flier sent to other beach communities and Pinellas County officials.

Commissioner Jim Palamara, who urged fellow commissioners to come to the sea turtles' aid, said he got the idea while working on a construction job on Clearwater Beach.

"It was just so sad," Palamara said. "Usually we see up to 50 dolphin swimming by. This time they weren't there. There was only a dead dolphin floating in the water."

Then reports started coming in about high numbers of dead and dying turtles washing up on Pinellas County beaches.

The rescued turtles found floating in shallow waters up and down Pinellas beaches are in "very serious condition," aquarium spokeswoman Terrie Weeks said. They are kept in shallow pools and require constant care.

Eddie Bulger, an on-call supervisor in the Indian Rocks Beach public works department, spent Monday at the aquarium. Barring emergencies, other city employees plan to volunteer time this week to help the turtles.

"I helped wet down the turtles, dropped off blood samples at an area laboratory," Bulger said on Tuesday. "They are very shorthanded and can really use donations."

Weeks said that more than $20,000 has been donated by individuals and cities. Because most of the turtles are extremely weak and have eye lesions that may require surgery, their rehabilitation may take months.

Although the aquarium is "swamped" with calls from people wanting to help or donate, Weeks said the cost may run to $50,000 or more to care for the turtles - and that does not account for any additional turtles that may be rescued from the gulf.

"No one is sure that the Red Tide is causing the turtles to become ill or die, but we have a very strong suspicion that's the case," she said.

Since June, more than 60 dead turtles have been found in the Gulf of Mexico - 30 along Pinellas beaches alone. Florida Fish and Wildlife researchers say that a strong and lingering Red Tide begins to affect other marine life besides fish.

"These animals cannot live without our help - $5,000 is the same as $1 per person for the people living in Indian Rocks Beach," Palamara said. The turtles are the "signature element" of the beaches and the county, Indian Rocks Beach Mayor Bill Ockunzzi said.

"The turtles live for up to 100 years, and if one dies, we'll have years of no egg laying," Ockunzzi said. "If we can save a couple, we will be able to enjoy them for years into the future."

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 01:09:16]