4/4/14 This is Thermic's second visit to our Sea Turtle Rehabiliation Hospital. This turtle was first treated starting in January 2010, following a mass stranding of sea turtles. During that event, hundreds of sea turtles stranded statewide because of the excessively cold winter in 2010. Thermic was released on Feb. 24, 2010. In April, Thermic was found stranded on Cocoa Beach. When the turtle arrived, our animal care staff realized it was wearing a flipper tag and had a PIT tag that indicated it had been tagged at Mote after previous treatment here during the 2010 mass stranding.  When Thermic arrived for treatment this time, we found some odd looking abscesses on its carapace, probably due to an old boat injury. We've biopsied the wounds and have cultured it to check for disease. The turtle has floating issues due to the injury.

Thermic's previous treatment record:

1/19/2010 Turtle was cold stunned and rescued from the east coast of Florida. Turtle arrived at Mote on Saturday and has been watched closely. Turtle has several papillomas (tumors). 2/24 Surgery was performed to remove all papilloma tumors and the turtle has recovered very well. Thermic is one of three turtles transported back across the state for release on the east coast today (along with Chai and Blizzard II).

Note: More than 3,000 sea turtles statewide have been affected by record-low January water temperatures. State and federal agencies, along with nonprofit organizations like Mote are responding to this mass stranding by taking in sick sea turtles. To help these animals by making a donation of one of the following items, please call Mote's Development office at 941-388-4441, ext. 509. Click here to make a monetary donation now.

Among the items needed to help care for this record number of turtles at Mote are the following:

• Closed-cell foam padding (this is a high priority and usually available from boat fabricators)
• Kiddie pools, wading pools, cattle waterers or other containers of a similar size that can hold water
• Spray bottles
• Towels and blankets
• Tarps
• Spring clamps (either all metal or plastic)
• Ventilated containers
• Monetary donations to pay for medications, food and satellite tags