Virginia Aquarium Worker Helps Gulf Turtles

NEW ORLEANS, La. (WAVY) - Volunteers from across the country are helping the residents and marine life on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, and Hampton Roads is no exception.

The Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach sent their Assistant Stranding Response Team Coordinator Christina Trapani to help with the sea turtle recovery effort.

"Most of them coming in are in good body condition," she said. Trapani has helped with the recovery efforts of about a hundred sea turtles at the Audubon Institute's Aquatic Center in New Orleans.

She says the oil spill in the gulf is affecting several different species of sea turtles.

"They're unable to submerge, they've been slowed down," she said. "Their prey items are also oiled so it's hard for them to find things to eat,"

Christina and other expert volunteers at the aquatic center have treated the turtles with antibiotics to prevent against infection and provided the turtles with nourishment.

And although most of the rescued turtles have been responding, their future is uncertain.

"This is kind of uncharted territory. We don't know the long term affects of the oil or even the dispersants," she said.

More troubling, perhaps, is the fact that the Gulf of Mexico is the breeding area for some species of sea turtles already battling extinction.

"The Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle is the most endangered of all the Sea Turtles and the Gulf of Mexico is basically their major habitat...they really only nest in South Texas and in Mexico. So all those hatchlings are going to be coming out into the Gulf of Mexico."

Some the sea turtles removed from the Gulf are already being released in other waters, but the question lingers: How many will actually be returned to the Gulf and when will it be safe to do so?

"You always take a chance when releasing animals," she said. "I think that that is still under debate as to where and when they will release those animals."

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