ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Health Melbourne Hospital and Brevard Zoo have announced their partnership focusing on sea turtle rehabilitation along Florida’s Space Coast.
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The Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center Endoscopy Unit has donated specialized equipment and instruments capable of providing the East Coast Zoological Foundation’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center at Brevard Zoo with tools “better able to remove foreign objects in animals with unique anatomies,” such as sea turtles.
“We’re honored to collaborate with Brevard Zoo’s veterinary team by providing this specialized equipment,” said Dr. George Christophi, gastroenterologist at Orlando Health Melbourne Hospital. “By sharing our expertise, we can help support the veterinary team at Brevard Zoo to ensure the sea turtles in need continue to receive the most accurate, effective surgical care and improve their chances of recovery.”
The donated equipment will specifically support the diagnosis and treatment of sea turtles affected by “ingested fishing hooks and fishing line, [as well as] other gastrointestinal complications.”
According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, nearly 4,600 sea turtles are killed each year by US fisheries, with an estimated 250,000 loggerhead turtles snared by commercial longline fishing.
The organization states that “when a turtle is caught unintentionally, the hook can kill them because it could prevent them from getting to the surface to get air. Furthermore, if they don’t die from drowning, the hook can be permanently debilitating because it can get lodged in their digestive systems and eventually cause a much slower death.”
The entangling of sea turtles in fishing gear is, according to NOAA Fisheries, known as “bycatch,” and is “the greatest threat to sea turtles in the United States.”
Partnerships like the one between Orlando Health Melbourne Hospital and the Brevard Zoo can help prevent unnecessary sea turtle deaths.
“This collaboration came together incredibly quickly because everyone involved recognized the opportunity to make a lasting impact,” said Heather Profit, community relations manager for Orlando health. “We are proud to help connect medical professionals and veterinary experts so they can share knowledge, collaborate on procedures, and continue advancing care for these animals.”
The partnership was inspired by the discovery of Sophia, a 114-pound loggerhead seat turtle who was found with over 20 hooks lodged in her gastrointestinal tract.
Two hooks were successfully removed by the Brevard Zoo’s veterinary team, but the rest, along with a spool of fishing line, remained due to difficulties in accessing parts of Sophia’s gastrointestinal tract.
Through Orlando Health’s donation, the team hopes to be able to remove all the hooks and fishing line from Sophia’s system and one day return her, and all their sea turtle patients, to the ocean.
“As gastroenterologists, we use this technology every day to perform minimally invasive procedures that improve patient outcome,” said Dr. Christophi. “Being able to help sea turtle patients is incredibly rewarding.”
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