National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation
Sponsors Exhibit at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
By Kristin Child and Kimberly Mohlenhoff, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center

Thanks to the National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation, the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, Florida installed a new exhibit in March. The exhibit is located adjacent to the Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center with the purpose of aiding visitors in understanding threats to sea turtles. Questions such as “Why are there sea turtles in need of medical care?”, “How does a veterinarian treat a turtle that has ingested a fish hook?”, and “Can I save a sea turtle when I refuse plastic bags at the grocery store?” are answered in the exhibit.

The display, constructed of three sets of five panels has a simple column and row design. The first set of panels describes the four greatest threats to the sea turtles occurring in Palm Beach County waters; boat strikes, plastics and balloons, fishing gear, and fibropapillomatosis. These are the problems most often treated by Gumbo Limbo’s Rehab Center staff.

The center set of panels explains the general way the injury affects sea turtles and how the Rehab Center staff is able to treat the injuries resulting from the major threats described. For example, the laser donated by National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation is crucial in the treatment of sea turtles with fibropapilloma tumors. The last set of panels describes how the reader can help reduce the impact of these threats on sea turtles, birds and other animals.

As a result, thousands of visitors leave Gumbo Limbo Nature Center each year with the knowledge of how the sea turtles became patients at the facility, and ideas on what they can do in their own lives, every day, to prevent many of these injuries from ever happening.

Visit Gumbo Limbo Nature Center to learn more about these threats, and see the sea turtles we are treating because of these issues.