Winter is upon us, and that means excitement over snow flurries, the dreaded frozen pipes, holiday celebrations, and island gatherings.
It also means cold-stunned sea turtles begin to wash up on the shores of the Outer Banks, which puts some people in rescue-mission mode. Several days ago some rescue missions did take place, and a handful of turtles are now thawed and in rehab.
I’m fairly confident Friday began like any other normal day for most people here. Some people were at work; others were at home; and a few brave souls were out on the beach. Because of one of those brave souls I received a message from Jennifer Rich explaining her friend Jamie had found a Loggerhead turtle at the north end of the island. The turtle was located in the pedestrian area beyond Ramp 59 and was described as being about 60 pounds. Jamie said the turtle moved its head and flipped its flipper, and since it was alive and out of the frigid water, I began thinking of ways to get help.
Since sea turtles are cold-blooded reptiles, they depend on external heat sources. When air and water temperatures plummet suddenly, it can cause the health of turtles to rapidly deteriorate and lead to them becoming cold stunned. Symptoms of cold stunning include decreased heart rate, decreased circulation, and lethargy. These can be followed by shock, pneumonia, and possibly death.
I couldn’t go out for Friday's rescue for several reasons: 1. our vehicle is not suited to drive on the beach, 2. picking up a 60 pound Loggerhead is not something I can do being seven-months pregnant, and 3. my lunch break isn’t long enough to tackle that kind of task.
In past years I’ve found that the Law Enforcement Officers (LEO’s) who work for the Park were always willing to help rescue wildlife, sometimes even working beyond their scheduled shift to do so. This year, Law Enforcement Officer Shane Bryan was the lucky man on duty who I asked to go assist Jamie and the turtle. After describing to Shane where the turtle was found, he let me know he was going up to find it and see if it would fit in the back of his work vehicle. I hurried to find something suitable to put the Loggerhead in, but with no large boxes in sight, I settled on a towel and waited for word from Shane to head north so I could meet him and get the turtle. I called the Hatteras ferry terminal office and got permission to load the turtle on a boat, so once Shane messaged me that the turtle was alive, I took my break and headed up to the north end. He asked that I meet him and Hyde County Sheriff’s Deputy David Walden in the parking area just south of Ramp 59. As a put my car in park, Shane exited Ramp 59 and David came out right behind him (if you happened to drive by this parking area, it may have looked like a huge bust was occurring. There wasn’t, though it is kind of intimidating to have two LE vehicles pull up right next to your sedan).
Within seconds of them stopping their trucks, the two officers hopped out and Shane indicated the turtle was in the back of David’s vehicle. Sure enough, there it was! The juvenile Loggerhead sea turtle was not moving much, but it was alive thanks to those two. I got a photo of them with the turtle, then handed the towel over so they could wrap it and place it in the back seat of my car. While this was happening, Shane told me they’d spotted several more turtles in the water, though they looked pretty dead. One was floating on its back; the others appeared to be motionless along the shoreline. As we parted ways, Shane and David said they would go see if any of the turtles were still alive and I went off to drop the turtle off on the ferry.
I drove around the loop, through the Priority Lane, and parked by the kiosk. I walked up to a woman and explained why I was there and recognizing that I was who they were expecting, so she had me pull onto the ferry. I parked under the “tunnel” by the Engine Room where I was greeted by a very friendly and excited crew. I asked them to lift the turtle out of the back seat (again, being seven months pregnant with a sore back prevents me from lifting 60 pound loggerheads), and one man was exceptionally happy to help (I neglected to ask his name, but I did get a photo). He set the turtle on the deck and they all sort of admired it before placing it in the Engine Room.
During this time Shane called to tell me they had several more live sea turtles! With the wind blowing I had a hard time hearing where to meet him, but it was time for the crew to load the boat, so I drove off the ferry (my first ferry u-turn), parked my car by the kiosk again, and went back to speak with the nice woman. I explained more turtles were found and asked if they could be placed on another ferry. She said yes, then before I walked away to meet Shane I thought it might get good to know her name. Lisa. Her name is Lisa and she’s a captain! After saying good-bye to Lisa I called Shane and he told me to meet him and David at the loop where the sand has been piled up.
So I pulled around, got close to the dunes, put the car in park, and hopped out. When I peered over the sand piles, which formed something more cliff-like than mound-like, I wondered how in the heck I was going to get to the beach to meet them. I wasn’t left wondering for long, because just after I turned around and looked east, I saw Shane – who was wearing a neon yellow safety vest (how’s that for symbolism) – and David pop up over the highest part of the sand piles (which aren’t little, mind you), Green sea turtles in hand, smiles on their faces. They began placing the turtles on the sand so they could bring up one last turtle which was a huge Kemp’s Ridley turtle.
One of the three Greens they found was a little more alive than the others, and it began crawling down the dune. David quickly scooped it up and the two officers began bringing the turtles down. The whole scene was sheer awesomeness.
We placed them in the back seat of my car and I began coordinating what ferry this lot would be on. Since there were four turtles this time, with one being fairly active, arrangements were for them to get on the next ferry to Hatteras. The four Greens made it onto the boat, but the Kemp’s Ridley – wrapped in a Queen-size bedsheet – was too big for any of the available boxes.
Knowing the Kemp’s Ridley was going to be tricky, I began reaching out to anyone I could think of to help. Then, I saw David in the Howard’s Pub parking lot and asked him for help. He called Hyde County Sheriff’s Deputy Capt. Jason Daniels, who was just coming on duty, and relayed to me that Jason had a big enough box for the leftover turtle. Jason grabbed the turtle and placed it in the box then into the back of his work truck. He took the turtle up to the ferry terminal and loaded it on the boat, making that the first time I’ve known a turtle to get a police escort.
But the rescuing wasn’t over yet. I received another message about a Green that had washed up at the north end. By this time, I figured Shane and David were about to come off duty, so I appealed to my friend and coworker Tama VanVleck. She too loves sea turtles, so she asked what she needed and went on up to the north end. From how quickly she returned, I figured the rescue and ferry arrangements went off without a hitch! But then she told me that the tide had come up juuuuust enough to drag the cold turtle out into the frigid water in Hatteras Inlet. But did that stop her? Nooooope! She took off her shoes and socks and waded into the water after the turtle, retrieved it, covered it, and got it on a ferry.
The next day, as my husband and I were getting ready for the Oyster Roast, I received another message about a cold stunned turtle. A woman named Stacie, who was visiting from Avon, found a turtle off Shirley Lane, the side road along Ramp 72. She estimated the turtle be about 70 pounds and knew it to be a Loggerhead. She found it on the sound-side on dry land, but it was about 100 yards from the parking circle. Unable to lift it on her own she needed help. I put a post on Facebook asking if someone could assist Stacie, then remembered Tama’s husband, David Chambers, has a beach vehicle, so Tama spoke with him. He was willing to go, so I described her truck and that the turtle was on dry land. Feeling that everything was taken care of I put my phone on silent and Will and I went to the Oyster Roast.
Afterwards I had several messages each from David and Stacie. The rescue was a success! But, David went above and beyond to help the Loggerhead. The tide had come up, which forced David to wade in knee-deep freezing water, barefoot and over oyster shells, for about 1/4 mile to get to the turtle. Once he had it secured in a tarp he then had to wade back to the parking circle barefoot and over oyster shells in knee-deep freezing water. The whole rescue took about an hour.
Stacie was returning to Avon that same day, so she was able to take the turtle over to Hatteras and drop it off in Buxton. Buxton is the staging site where all our turtles go to be checked-in before going to rehab. The lead volunteer coordinator, Frank Welles, messaged me later that our Loggerhead made it to rehab, but weighed closer to 100 pounds.
All in all, over the course of about 36 hours, seven people contributed to rescuing seven sea turtles which were loaded onto five separate ferries and collected by volunteers at the Hatteras ferry terminal who then transported them to Buxton before taking them to rehab in Manteo where they were examined and warmed up. All of our turtles lived!
If you ever find a sea turtle, live or dead, you can report it to the N.E.S.T 24-hour hotline by calling 252-441-8622, or by calling any of the National Park Service Visitor Centers on Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Editor's note: In addition to being a staff writer for the Current, a photographer, and the manager of the NPS Visitor Center store, Crystal is a certified wildlife rehabilitator and a N.E.S.T. volunteer.
For more information about cold-stunned turtle rehab, read this 2010 article about the fine folk at Roanoke Island Animal Clinic.
