Proud to be from Pittsburgh: Second Chance sea turtle program

PITTSBURGH — Many of the animals at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium are there year-round, but some of the residents are only short-term visitors. The Second Chance Sea Turtle program brings in turtles in need of urgent medical care to be rehabilitated and then released back into the wild.

A total of 15 turtles came to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium just after Thanksgiving, after they were rescued off of the coast of Massachusetts.  The turtles were "cold stunned," and some were barely clinging to life.

"Those animals might just get distracted; they might be young turtles. For whatever reason they didn't receive those cues and the water turns colder, and they, unlike us, can't regulate their body temperature," said Dr. Ginger Sturgeon, the director of animal health at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

The turtles aren't just cold when they're rescued. They're also suffering from a variety of medical problems, which often include pneumonia. From the coast of Massachusetts, a partnership with the Pittsburgh Aviation Animal Rescue Team helped get them to Pittsburgh, where they receive customized and life-saving care.

"These guys are pretty ill when they come to us. They can be anywhere from mildly dehydrated to actually comatose," said Sturgeon.

As the turtles begin to heal and recover, staff at the zoo work to make sure they behave like healthy, wild animals.

"We'll try to get them to forage on some live food items that we can get here in Pittsburgh seasonally, but we're also making sure that they're bright and alert every single day. You know, when the lights go on and everybody's up, everybody's cruising around the tank," said Josianne Romanseco, the coordinator for the Sea Turtle Second Chance Program.

Caring for the wild creatures who return to the wild after they're fully healed brings special meaning to the team that works hard bringing them back to health.

"To be able to treat an animal from the wild that comes to you extremely depressed and lethargic and suffering from a whole bunch of maladies, to be able to work together as a team and get that animal back into a healthy state and to be able to release it back into the wild, that's huge," said Sturgeon.

"It's probably the most fulfilling thing I'll ever do in my career," said Romanesco.

When the turtles are healthy and the water is warmer, the animals are released back into the ocean. It's an expensive program, and the

to keep it going.

Cox Media Group