CLEARWATER, Fla. — For weeks, red tide has been killing our sea life by the ton. It’s especially dangerous for animals who are already fighting an uphill battle to survive.
That's why Clearwater Marine Aquarium is stepping in to help sea turtles suffering from the harmful algae bloom. Experts say red tide exposure can confuse sea turtles so much that they drown.
“What we’re seeing are neurologic disorders, so they’re having seizure-like activity,” said Dr. Shelly Marquardt from the aquarium. “They also might just be out of it.”
Marquardt helps heal turtles who are being treated for red tide exposure.
“These guys usually rest in a dry dock,” she said. It’s a bin in the surgical suite where the turtles recover for several days until they’ve worked through the toxins.
“From there, we’ll start putting them in water gradually,” Marquardt added.
Three turtles have already come in this year because of red tide, which is pretty standard.
But Dr. Marquardt says if the red tide levels stay high, those numbers could go up. This is especially worrisome for Kemp's Ridley turtles which are critically endangered or mother turtles coming to shore to nest.
“We want to be able to respond to as quickly as possible,” she said. “They are wild animals, so you could hurt them, they could hurt you. But give us a call, and we can advise you on what to do.”
So, what happens when the turtles improve? Dr. Marquardt says they want to make sure they don’t return the animals to the same hazardous environment that they came from.
“We’re going to go ahead and we’re going to work with FWC to find a location that is not going to have red tide in the area,” she said. “So we’re very cognizant of where is this level, where is it measured, where is it going to be safest.”
Again, if you see the animals behaving erratically, you don’t necessarily want to engage. Just give the aquarium or the FWC a call, and they’ll tell you what to do next.
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