Wildlife Commission Researches Sea Turtle Health

RALEIGH, N.C. — Research on sea turtle health is a bit of a shell game, but biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission are determined to help conserve these reclusive reptiles.

“The sea turtle health project is helping us establish a baseline for wild turtle health — something we don’t have but really need,” said Matthew Godfrey, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s sea turtle biologist. “It’s a critical tool to determine whether a sick or injured turtle is well enough to return to the wild, and it gives us information on sea turtle populations.”

In 2004, Godfrey and other Wildlife Commission biologists worked with commercial fishermen to retrieve sea turtles caught in pound nets along North Carolina’s coast. The biologists collected blood samples and other biological data from the sea turtles for analysis by N.C. State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Some turtles were brought to the vet school for extensive testing. All turtles were released back into the wild.

“We checked for parasites — both internal and external — bacteria loads, heavy metals, and we conducted a complete body chemical panel on the turtles,” said Dr. Craig Harms, a veterinarian at the NCSU vet school. “We’ll use our findings to manage injured and stranded turtles that we treat here at the vet school hospital. With a good picture of a healthy animal, we can develop a better anesthesia protocol for surgery and physiological targets for recovery and release.”

After analyzing 97 sea turtles, Dr. Harms concluded that the turtles were more antibiotic-resistant than expected. He also found that it is possible to assess the condition of a sea turtle by analyzing blood samples.

“Certain blood work parameters correlate well with an animal’s overall condition,” he said.

The sea turtle health project also sought to establish a reliable method of determining sea turtle gender — a challenging objective, given that sea turtles such as loggerheads have no external genitalia and exhibit no sex-specific markings.

“We knew that serum testosterone levels measured in blood samples could be used to identify sea turtle gender accurately in July and August, but they’re less accurate other times of the year,” Godfrey said. “So, we compared serum levels with positive sex identification determined through laparoscopic surgery to establish a more reliable sex-identification protocol for other months of the year.”

A $20,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Grant funded the project in 2004. Godfrey said the Wildlife Commission will continue this research project in 2005 if federal funding is renewed and state support also is provided.

North Carolinians can support the state’s sea turtle research and management through the Tax Check-off for Nongame and Endangered Wildlife, which allows taxpayers to designate part or all of their state tax refunds to benefit wildlife. Since 1984, taxpayers have given more than $7 million for wildlife conservation through the Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund.

“In addition to gathering important biological data, this project was a great opportunity for students and interns to learn about sea turtles in the wild,” Godfrey said. “It also helped build a partnership between the Wildlife Commission, N.C. State University and commercial fishermen who wanted to help conserve North Carolina’s sea turtles.”

Wildlife Commission Researches Sea Turtle Health

RALEIGH, N.C. — Research on sea turtle health is a bit of a shell game, but biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission are determined to help conserve these reclusive reptiles.

“The sea turtle health project is helping us establish a baseline for wild turtle health — something we don’t have but really need,” said Matthew Godfrey, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s sea turtle biologist. “It’s a critical tool to determine whether a sick or injured turtle is well enough to return to the wild, and it gives us information on sea turtle populations.”

In 2004, Godfrey and other Wildlife Commission biologists worked with commercial fishermen to retrieve sea turtles caught in pound nets along North Carolina’s coast. The biologists collected blood samples and other biological data from the sea turtles for analysis by N.C. State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Some turtles were brought to the vet school for extensive testing. All turtles were released back into the wild.

“We checked for parasites — both internal and external — bacteria loads, heavy metals, and we conducted a complete body chemical panel on the turtles,” said Dr. Craig Harms, a veterinarian at the NCSU vet school. “We’ll use our findings to manage injured and stranded turtles that we treat here at the vet school hospital. With a good picture of a healthy animal, we can develop a better anesthesia protocol for surgery and physiological targets for recovery and release.”

After analyzing 97 sea turtles, Dr. Harms concluded that the turtles were more antibiotic-resistant than expected. He also found that it is possible to assess the condition of a sea turtle by analyzing blood samples.

“Certain blood work parameters correlate well with an animal’s overall condition,” he said.

The sea turtle health project also sought to establish a reliable method of determining sea turtle gender — a challenging objective, given that sea turtles such as loggerheads have no external genitalia and exhibit no sex-specific markings.

“We knew that serum testosterone levels measured in blood samples could be used to identify sea turtle gender accurately in July and August, but they’re less accurate other times of the year,” Godfrey said. “So, we compared serum levels with positive sex identification determined through laparoscopic surgery to establish a more reliable sex-identification protocol for other months of the year.”

A $20,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Grant funded the project in 2004. Godfrey said the Wildlife Commission will continue this research project in 2005 if federal funding is renewed and state support also is provided.

North Carolinians can support the state’s sea turtle research and management through the Tax Check-off for Nongame and Endangered Wildlife, which allows taxpayers to designate part or all of their state tax refunds to benefit wildlife. Since 1984, taxpayers have given more than $7 million for wildlife conservation through the Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund.

“In addition to gathering important biological data, this project was a great opportunity for students and interns to learn about sea turtles in the wild,” Godfrey said. “It also helped build a partnership between the Wildlife Commission, N.C. State University and commercial fishermen who wanted to help conserve North Carolina’s sea turtles.”