Loggerheads Louise and Nemo and Greens Jo, Ellie, Sandy, and Shadow are healthy and ready to go! A beach release is planned for Oak Island, NC this Sunday, May 19. Unfortunately water temperatures in the Outer Banks aren’t yet warm enough for a release, but the kind volunteer crew at Oak Island is helping us send these turtles home. We’ll post pictures from the release here!
Drawing blood from Louise for pre-release labwork. Photo by NC Aquariums.
How do we make the determination that a patient is ready for release? Working with our vets, we keep a careful chart of feeding (and defecating), swimming and diving ability, weight gain, and symptom and labwork improvement. The vets review this information and give us the green light for release if everything looks good.
Blood preparation. Photo by NC Aquarium.