Group Struggles To Pay For Sea Turtle Rescues

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Credit Wendell Reed, via Flickr, Creative Commons

Loggerhead sea turtle

The Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or "NEST", is running out of money. The group relies on donations to rescue sea turtles along  the North Carolina coast, and they are struggling to deal with a large number of turtles that became hypothermic when a cold snap cooled shallow water quickly.

Christian Legner works at the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island which partners with "NEST."  She says 58 turtles have been rescued so far this winter -- that's about three times the amount from the same time period last year.

“Every turtle that comes in, in order for us to see what kind of treatment it needs we need to run blood work and we need to get an x-ray and sometimes the blood work or the x-ray will show us that we need to administer some kind of medication, usually antibiotics before the turtle can be released, “ she says.

Legner says the cost per turtle is between three and five hundred dollars.