Brevard County group marks 10 years of saving sea turtles with plans to build aquarium
Brevard Zoo's Sea Turtle Healing Center is marking 10 years of helping marine wildlife.
By Senait Gebregiorgis
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COCOA BEACH, Florida (WESH) — Brevard Zoo’s Sea Turtle Healing Center is marking 10 years of helping marine wildlife.
The group celebrated the milestone Thursday with what it does best — sending a cured sea turtle back into the ocean.
“It was just awesome to see a rehab turtle go back to his ocean home,” said Cindy Lang, who lives in the county.
It means a lot to people who care for their home and all it has to offer.
“I love our sea turtles. I love our ocean, wildlife. It’s just super special,” said Amber Herzinger, a county resident.
Crowds came to Cocoa Beach to watch the team release a recovered patient back into the water after a three-month stay.
The sea turtle’s name is Van Gogh because the turtle was found on the famous painter’s birthday in March.
“Van Gogh came to us very lethargic, kind of thin, and they were also experiencing the effects of fibropapilloma ptosis, which is the sea turtle herpes virus,” said Jessica Patterson, the Sea Turtle Healing Center’s coordinator.
The center opened in partnership with the Sea Turtle Preservation Society a decade ago.
The group has since added additional tanks and more than 60 volunteers and has treated hundreds of sea turtles.
“Brevard County is part of the largest nesting population of loggerhead sea turtles in the world,” said Shanon Gann, the center’s program manager.
Boat strikes and fishing-line tangles are some of the incidents that hurt sea turtles.
Before the center opened, the closest healing place was more than an hour away.
“If I find a sick turtle, I would give it to someone, and then I would never hear what happened to it. So, now with our sea turtle healing center, we’re able to do these nice public releases,” Gann said.
The releases can feel bittersweet.
“We get to know these animals and their little individual personalities, and then you release them with the hope that you never see them again,” Patterson said.
The team’s next mission is to raise enough money to build an aquarium. It will double the capacity for sea turtles that need care.
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