Turtles Turtles Turtles

I've had quite the turtle week.  Last week for the first time in a while I fed the turtles.  What greedy little buggers they are.  And so very passive aggressive.  They love you when you're dropping squid in their tanks but the minute you stop the love is gone.  Once again Elvis and Jetty managed to soak down the back of my shirt while I fed the turtles in the tank next to them.

Elvis

Jetty

After hanging out with Beavis and Butthead I was sent to work on cleaning up the cetacean tank and I got to hang with its newest patient. 

This is Jaws.  Jaws is a 300lb loggerhead sea turtle.  He started out his life living in the Mall of America but soon outgrew his exhibit.  The Long Island aquarium adopted him 10 years ago and he's been happily living in the big shark tank ever since.  But over the past few weeks he hasn't been eating regularly so he was brought to the Foundation's tank to be monitored and get some special care.  Yesterday he ate a good bunch of squid and tried on more than one occasion to eat my scrub brush.  This was seen as a good thing, not the whole lets dunk the volunteer with her own scrub brush but the fact that he was looking for objects that may have food attached.

Lastly, Rudy, the Kemp's Ridley, who lives in the rescue center display tank, went to have an MRI this past week.  Interestingly he had his MRI done at the same facility where my dog Gimli had his MRI and back surgery done.  Long Island Veterinary Specialists  donated the cost of the MRI so the exact cause of Rudy's shell deformity could be determined.  It turns out that his shell issue is not related to the boat strike that brought him to us but to a permanent spinal deformity, similar to Scoliosis in humans.  He is now officially deemed unreleasable to the wild so now begins the search for a forever home for Rudy.  When you come see him at the rescue center and he isn't eating or is being fussy its probably due to some spinal discomfort more than his diva attitude.

How the world sees Rudy

How Rudy sees himself