Sea Turtle Hospital News

The taller of our two summer "Meghans" was born in central Florida and raised in the Raleigh area for most of her life, but her experience with sea turtles spans the many years she spent vacationing at the family home on Serenity Point. In the summer of 2008 Meghan passed through our doors more than a few times while accompanying her Marine Quest charges on a field trip to the hospital. After seeing her smiling face again and again Jean figured she was about halfway trained and suggested that she apply for our 12-week summer internship program.

Meghan goes with the flow and moves easily from task to task, never seeming to be surprised by anything that pops up. She surmised from her previous visits that the work would be hard, and that "cleaning and sanitation" would play a significant role in the rehabilitation process. In 2007 she worked on the other side of the world at a wildlife preserve in placecountry-regionAustralia, doing pretty much "everything." Although she hasn’t had to resurrect her special skills for laying sod and repairing electric fences the one talent that does come in handy is cajoling her charges to eat. Apparently those Australian critters can be just as picky and demanding as our sea turtles when it comes to their cuisine. Meghan’s advice to anyone considering our internship is to "expect lots of hard work, but also expect to receive so much more in return through personal satisfaction. You don’t get this kind of hands-on experience anywhere else."

In a few short weeks Meghan returns to UNCW as a senior, with majors in Biology and Environmental Science. She is the Vice President of the International Student Volunteers program, and she spends much of her spare time recruiting interested parties for a four-week tour of duty in various countries around the world. On weekends during the school year you’ll probably run into her at the Fort Fisher Aquarium at the touch tank, sea turtle exhibit or hosting the dive show. At the intern house she’s known as the "animal lady" because she’s brought along two Betas and her pet chinchilla, "Bonnie" to keep her company during the summer. If there’s any time left after taking care of sea turtles and her pets she’s most likely on the beach.

Sometimes it seems that placePlaceNameTopsail PlaceTypeIsland might be part of a new government homestead or public works project that we just don’t know about. While strolling the beach you don’t know whether to look down (for humongous, unattended holes) or up (for entire cities built under and around canopies that are sometimes strung together like town houses.) If you think it’s tough for us humans to navigate this kind of beach sprawl think about a 400-pound mama sea turtle loaded with eggs trying to make her way to the dunes through this obstacle course. Although only one of our towns (placePlaceNameSurf PlaceTypeCity) has an ordinance on the books that prohibits leaving canopies up overnight it would be really thoughtful and decent of everyone to abide by that rule. And it’s not only canopies that get left behind: chairs, boogie boards, umbrellas and of course trash spoil the beach experience and the environment for everyone. Please remember to leave only your footprints behind as you exit our little bit of paradise.