I’m back from Bald Head Island, NC – but fear not, there’s one last adventure to report. One of my last days down there, I drove to Topsail Island, which is a short drive up the coast, to see Jean Beasley’s famed turtle hospital (named after her daughter Karen).
Beasley, who won Animal Planet’s 2007 hero of the year award, is a teacher-turned-turtle activist whose hospital started as a single injured turtle under a tent in her backyard in the mid-‘90s.
The “hospital” is a small warehouse with about 20 pools of varying sizes and depths, each containing an injured sea turtle. Staffed by around 70 volunteers, (plus 150 helping with nesting on the beach), the hospital currently houses three species of sea turtles – loggerheads, greens, and Kemp’s ridleys.
The turtle ward appeared completely full, so when I asked what would happen if another injured turtle was found, she replied, “There’s always room.”
“I’ve never seen this woman turn a turtle away,” added Sandy Sly, a volunteer since the early ‘90s, and a former registered nurse.
Their injuries vary, but the most common are from boat strikes and fishing nets, particularly gillnets. The turtle pictured above, a critically endangered Kemp’s ridley, swallowed a large hook and was also struck by a boat.
Beasley spoke passionately against gillnets. “My colleagues in other states ask, 'why do you get so many turtles?' My answer? Gillnets," she said. "It’s a sad thing. There’s a reason other states have gotten rid of gillnets.” At 72, she said she’d love to see them outlawed in her lifetime.
An injured green sea turtle enjoys a salad for lunch.
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