Tink arrives in city Friday from Miami for Gulf of Mexico exhibit
BY ALEXANDRA MESTER AND MARK ZABORNEY
BLADE STAFF WRITERS
A rescued sea turtle named Tink swims in its new home after arriving Friday night at the Toledo Zoo Aquarium.THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Buy This Photo
Gliding among sharks and stingrays, Tink the green sea turtle explored its new home: the soon-to-be public Gulf of Mexico exhibit at the Toledo Zoo.
“She looks happy,” said Richie Moretti, director of the Turtle Hospital, a sea-turtle rehabilitation facility in Marathon, Fla.
Tink, the first sea turtle to swim at the Toledo Zoo since the 1990s, found its haven Friday night at the zoo’s historic aquarium, completely renovated and slated to reopen March 27.
The turtle weighs 35 pounds and is estimated to be younger than 10 years old, but its gender cannot yet be determined because it has not reached sexual maturity.
Tink and Mr. Moretti traveled together on a 6 a.m. FedEx flight from Miami — the carrrier donated their passage — with Tink covered in Vaseline and placed in a translucent plastic box. After a 6-hour layover in Memphis, the pair landed in Detroit after 6:30 p.m. and were at the zoo within two hours.
Zoo veterinarians gave the sea turtle a thorough once-over before its release. Tink’s tank-mates swam over and under and around the sea turtle as if they’d been with it all along.
Jay Hemdal, the aquarium’s curator, said Tink was permanently injured and cannot be returned to the ocean.
Found floating in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon 21 months ago, the turtle was taken to SeaWorld in Orlando for rehabilitation. Handlers found a passive integrated transponder indicating the turtle had previously been found stranded after being rendered immobile by cold weather — a phenomenon known as “cold-stunning” — and released in 2010.
The turtle’s shell is injured, “basically a flotation issue where they develop air inside their shells,” Mr. Hemdal said. “That means they can’t dive. If they can’t dive, they can’t forage for food and someone has to feed them.”
Tink’s rear flippers also have limited mobility, perhaps the result of injuries sustained from being hit by a boat.
Weights have been attached to its shell with epoxy to help the turtle dive and move about more normally. Even so, Tink would not survive in the ocean because the weights will eventually fall off and need to be reattached.
“By taking Tink in, we free up space for other turtles” at the rehabilitation facility, Mr. Hemdal said.
Dr. Yousuf Jafarey, left, Justin Grubb, biologist, center, and Laurie Dixon, senior aquarist, right, take a rescued sea turtle named “Tink” out of its container at the Toledo Zoo Aquarium on March 13, 2015.THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Buy This Photo
Green sea turtles grow to a shell length of 3 to 4 feet and can weigh more than 300 pounds, according to the National Wildlife Federation. Much is still unknown about their lifespans, but experts estimate they reach sexual maturity at 20 to 50 years old, and may live at least 100 years.
So presuming that Tink is 10, the Toledo Zoo “is giving this turtle a home for the next 90 years,” Mr. Moretti said.
Jeff Sailer, the zoo’s executive director, estimated a million visitors a year could see Tink, learning about the environment and the consequences of human action.
“That’s an incredible impact for one individual of a species,” Mr. Sailer said.
The Toledo Zoo in previous years had even younger sea turtles that weighed about 3 to 4 pounds, Mr. Hemdal said. The zoo raised those turtles until they could be safely returned to the wild.
Contact Alexandra Mester: amester@theblade.com, 419-724-6066, or on Twitter @AlexMesterBlade.
Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.
Turtle comes out of its shell at Toledo Zoo
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