BRUNSWICK NEWS (Georgia) 12 December 07 Stranded turtles waiting for lift (Ellen Robinson)
If you're a pilot in the Golden Isles with an airplane and happen to be heading north any time soon, call the New England Aquarium.
It could use your help. More specifically, seven turtles from the New England Aquarium in Boston could use your help. They need a ride to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island.
Tony LaCasse, spokesperson for the New England Aquarium, said the volunteers who were scheduled to fly the turtles to the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport on Sunday were unable to take off due to foul weather and are now gone.
"If there are any pilots in the Glynn County area that are flying to anywhere in New England for the holidays that would like to help out, (they are) encouraged to contact us," LaCasse said.
The seven turtles – five Kemp's Ridley and two green turtles, all endangered species – were found on the shore of Cape Cod, Mass., dehydrated and malnourished. After receiving emergency treatment at the aquarium, they are now ready to make the trip to the sunny South to recuperate before being released back into the wild in the spring.
All seven of the turtles are juveniles.
Sunday's trip was canceled about a half hour before take-off due to a winter storm in Baltimore, the last stop before Brunswick.
"We couldn't chance getting the turtles stuck there and have to plump them down to wait it out," LaCasse said.
Although endangered sea turtles can be transported by an air freight carrier, LaCasse said the aquarium would prefer to delay the move until a flight from a volunteer pilot can be arranged.
"We would much rather have direct care the whole way," he said. "Since there were only 18 (turtles) stranded this year we aren't at capacity yet, so we don't mind holding on to them for a while longer."
The aquarium has had to treat as many as 150 stranded turtles at a time in the past, he said.
Bill Irwin, director of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island, said Friday that the arrival of the turtles will mark a historic day for the center, which has not hosted Kemp's Ridleys, among the most endangered turtles on the planet.
If you can volunteer an airplane flight to bring seven endangered sea turtles from the New England Aquarium in Boston to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island, call:
* Georgia Sea Turtle Center at 635-4444.
* New England Aquarium at (617) 973-5200.
Stranded turtles waiting for lift