Meet Lennie.

Most people that know me, know I have a soft spot for sea turtles.  I want to introduce you to Lennie. 



Lennie lives at The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center in Topsail Island, NC.  I have met Lennie, and hope I get to visit him several more times before he dies.  I immediately fell in love with Lennie.  He has had quite the struggle and is a permanent resident of the Center.  He is not releasable and here is why.

Lennie was admitted to the Center Oct. 18, 2006 after being rescued from a pound net.  He was thin, and not eating.  He was named after his rescuer, "Lennie".

Lennie was admitted with blunt force trauma to the head, an easy diagnosis considering the obvious damage to his skull and eyes.   Upon admission, they could tell that he was blind in his right eye. It was sunken and atrophied. But they were operating on the hope that his left eye, despite being damaged and covered partially with a film remained somewhat functional.

At first Lennie refused to eat, but soon it realized he wasn’t just being stubborn. He literally couldn’t find the food he was being given, so it was then that the Center staff realized they had to adapt to his condition. That meant feeding him small pieces of squid and filleted fish, one at a time and held directly under his nose.
But what to do with a turtle with bad eyesight? Right after the holidays that year, Lennie made the trip to Virginia for an exam and consult with Dr. Brad Nadelstein, DVM, ACVD. I could give you all the technical terms for the tests, and for the problems he found, but the bottom line is: Lennie is blind, and surgery wouldn’t help.

So Lennie is a blind, but otherwise thriving sea turtle with no hope of being released. Now that he has been rehabilitzed and has adjusted to his permanent surroundings, Lennie is just right at home.  He will even follow familiar voices when he hears them.

Endangered sea turtles don’t normally stay at the facility forever; sometimes it could be a matter of days before they are better, but, more often, years before they reach their peek potential and are considered normal again. The mission of the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital is to heal these creatures and place them back into their natural state, living in the ocean. The staff does not focus their treatment to make them dependent upon human hands for food or survival. Their goal is to return them to the sea.

The turtle hospital currently has about 20 patients being cared for.  Some having been there several years.  The injuries of these turtles are vast; from being tangled in fishing nets, being hit with boat motors, hook injuries, flapper injuries, fungal and viral problems, etc.  Some of the turtles I have met at the hospital have also swallowed plastic bags, balloons, etc., thinking that it was food.  This is yet another reason why it is important to keep our oceans clean.

The volunteers at The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center work long, hard hours, preparing food, medications, monitoring, etc. beginning at 7am in the mornings.  I am so grateful for what these people do for these amazing creatures.    If you would like more information on this non-profit organization, it's sea turtle patients, or it's volunteers, please visit www.seaturtlehospital.org.  There you can also make donations or "adopt" one of these turtles who so desperately need our help.  Adoption helps provide food and medications to help them be released back into their natural habitat.  Here's a few more photos of Lennie.  :)