Weekly News Digest from Mote

Bye, Bye, Big Bel: Turtle Returned to the Wild

A loggerhead sea turtle nicknamed “Big Bel” that has been treated in Mote’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital since November was returned to the wild today, 2-22-13, from Lido Beach.

Big Bel was found stranded off of Fort Myers Beach after Hurricane Isaac passed through the area at the end of August, said Bob Wasno, Facilities Manager and Public Outreach Coordinator at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Vester Marine and Environmental Science Field Station in Bonita Springs.

“I received a call from Turtle Time that tourists had phoned in a sick sea turtle on the south end of Fort Myers Beach. Everyone was preparing for the hurricane so I grabbed one of my interns from Toulouse University to help and picked up a buddy and his wife on the way,” Wasno said.

The turtle was about 50 yards off the beach in a shallow swash channel and was extremely lethargic. Wasno, along with intern Marine Fuhrmann and David and Tricia Kessel — and some bystanders who were on the beach — helped carry the turtle to a truck so it could be transported to the Vester field station. After a few days, Turtle Time, which monitors sea turtle nesting on Fort Myers Beach, picked the turtle up and transported it to CROW, a wildlife rehabilitation facility on Sanibel.

In November, Big Bel was transferred to Mote for additional treatment.

During its time in care, veterinary staff removed an incredible 22 pounds of epibiota growth on its carapace (living things like algae and barnacles). The turtle, a female, was believed to be suffering from lethargic loggerhead syndrome and also had old wounds, including missing part of a front flipper and most of a rear flipper. After months of treatment by CROW and Mote, Big Bel was finally ready to return to the wild on Friday.

With a crowd gathered on Lido Beach Friday to wish her well, the 214-pound turtle was set down on the sand near the water — and she crawled right in and then quickly disappeared!

About Mote's Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital
Mote’s Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital has been treating sick turtles since 1995 and has treated more than 400 sea turtles. Mote has one of only three hospitals in the state that can treat turtles suffering from fibropapilloma tumors that require a separate treatment facility just for them. Each year, Mote must raise funds to support our treatment facilities. Please consider donating at www.mote.org/hospitalhelp.

PHOTO ABOVE: Kevin Murk, Mote volunteer, Paul Hillbrand, Mote intern and Jamie Gamby, Mote intern sit with Big Bel the sea turtle prior to her release.  Mote staff, volunteers and interns gathered along with other well wishers to return the turtle to sea on Feb. 22, 2013. (Credit: Mote Marine Laboratory)

Donations Will Do Greater Good During 36-hour Giving Challenge
Donations to Mote on March 5 and 6 Eligible for a 1:1 Match

Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium is excited to announce our participation in the 36-Hour Giving Challenge — an online fundraising marathon for nonprofit organizations in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties that begins at 7 a.m. Tuesday, March 5 and ends at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 6.
(Click here to learn how you can help.)

This is the second year of the Giving Challenge, which brought together more than 100 community nonprofit organizations and raised more than $2.4 million for Sarasota-area nonprofits in 2012.

The Giving Challenge is presented by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County in partnership with The Patterson Foundation, with support from Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Manatee Community Foundation, Charlotte Community Foundation and the William G. and Marie Selby Foundation. The Herald-Tribune Media Group, ClearChannel Radio and SNN6 have also joined in the effort to promote the power of giving during this event.

How will the Giving Challenge make the most of donations?

• Matching Funds: Organizers have made $430,000 available for 1:1 matching support. (Please note: Only new and increased gifts up to $1,000 will be eligible for a 1:1 match through the Giving Challenge.  (If you made a donation last year, for this year’s gift to be eligible for the Challenge match, you must increase the amount you give.)
• Incentive Grants: There is currently $215,000 in total Incentive Grants with various opportunities to receive additional funds.
• SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY AT MOTE ONLY: Thanks to two anonymous donors, $50,000 is available to match donations to Mote. (Funds will match individual gifts one to one by up to $1,000 each.)

Mote and Whole Foods Market Partner for Giving:  Mote has teamed up with Whole Foods Market in Sarasota, which is helping the Lab raise awareness and make the most of the Giving Challenge: A $5,000 grant is available to the nonprofit with the best partnership with a business.  It was natural for Mote to work with Whole Foods — a business dedicated to eco-friendly practices that stocks environmentally responsible caviar produced by Mote and has supported Mote through donations to our animal hospitals.

Whole foods is supporting Mote during the Giving Challenge by helping us raise awareness — including providing a filming site for Mote’s Giving Challenge video expected to debut next week.

Mote also offers a special thank you to The Ritz-Carlton Beach Club, which also served as a film location.

How to Give

• Visit www.GivingPartnerChallenge.org from 7 a.m. March 5 at to 7 p.m. March 6 to make your contribution.
• Search for Mote Marine Laboratory and make a secure online donation. A credit card or debit card must be used.
• Share Mote’s Giving Partner Profile with your family and friends. Simply visit www.mote.org/givingpartner to learn more about us and our many projects and initiatives.  The Giving Partner is an online tool created by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to help donors make more informed decisions about how they give their philanthropic dollars.

March 2-3
Sarasota Wildlife Art Show and Wildlife Symposium Includes Admission Discount at Mote

The first annual Sarasota Wildlife Art Festival and Wildlife Symposium benefiting Save Our Seabirds and the Rotary Club of Sarasota Foundation will take place the first weekend in March at Ken Thompson Park on City Island, Sarasota. Focusing on artistry and community enrichment, the event is a juried fine art exhibition of wildlife artists, painters, sculptors, photographers, jewelers and fine craftsmen paired with a wildlife and environmental educational symposium.

Details

What: Rotary Club of Sarasota presents the Sarasota Wildlife Art Show and Wildlife Symposium. Highlights include speakers Kevin Carroll and Dan Strzempka, two prosthetic experts who stepped in to create the first prosthetic tail for a dolphin.

Mr. Carroll is probably best known for developing the tail for Winter from the movie “Dolphin Tale” and he also works with Sandhill Cranes at the Save Our Seabirds Wild Bird Learning Center in Sarasota.

Admission: $5 for adults; children 12 and under get in free. Admission to this event entitles guests free entry into Save Our Seabirds and a $5 discount on Mote admission fee on the days of the festival.

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Saturday and Sunday, March 2 and 3, 2013

Where: Ken Thompson Park, 1700 Ken Thompson Parkway, City Island, Sarasota; located adjacent to Save Our Seabirds, Inc., Seabird Center and Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium.

Event: Juried fine art show featuring wildlife art and a symposium with presentations by specialists on wildlife and environmental topics.

More information: http://www.sarasotawildlifefest.com/

Saturday
Dinosaur Train Coming to The Aquarium at Mote
Join us from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23, as the Dinosaur Discovery Tour stops in The Aquarium at Mote. Our friends at PBS Kids Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train will visit the Aquarium for a day of hands-on educational activities.

Meet the characters from Dinosaur Train and Mote's mascot, Gilly the Shark. Games, crafts and entertainment provided for free with paid Aquarium admission, free for Mote-Members.

Mote is open from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 365 days per year at 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway in Sarasota. For visitor information, go to www.mote.org and scroll over "Aquarium."

• Get tickets now for lectures in February and March 2013
  

Join Mote on Feb. 25 for a talk about coral reefs and diseases that threaten them during our Special Lecture Series featuring top marine scientists and explorers.

Lectures start at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.) each Monday through March 11 in the Immersion Cinema at The Aquarium at Mote, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway in Sarasota. Lecture details below.

Tickets are $15 per person per lecture ($12 for Mote Members). Tickets are on sale now and will be available until 3 p.m. on the day of each lecture, or until sold out. Tickets must be purchased in advance to guarantee your seat.

• Purchase tickets at www.mote.org/lecture
  Students, teachers and Mote volunteers can get $12 tickets by contacting Mote at lecture@mote.org or 941-388-4441, ext. 348.

For questions, please call 941-388-4441, ext. 691, or e-mail lecture@mote.org.

Lecture Summaries:

• Feb. 25: “Sick and tired of being sick and tired: How Diseases are Devastating our Coral Reefs” by Dr. Erinn Muller, Mote Postdoctoral Fellow, Mote Marine Laboratory
  Muller will reveal how disease outbreaks have devastated coral reefs around the world, especially within the Caribbean, and discuss the possible reasons for higher prevalence of coral diseases, different types of diseases occurring within our reefs and higher numbers of coral disease outbreaks. She will focus on the influence of environmental stressors, such as warm water temperature and pollution, and describe how those stressors impact the immune system of corals and the virulence of pathogens, and she will provide insight into how people can reduce the threat of coral diseases.
• March 4: “Harmful algal blooms (“red tides”) in the Gulf of Maine: From Climatology to Forecasting” by Dr. Dennis McGillicuddy, Senior Scientist in the Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  McGillicuddy will reveal how harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a serious economic and public health problem throughout coastal oceans. In New England, the most serious HAB issue is paralytic shellfish poisoning, a potentially fatal illness that occurs when humans eat shellfish that have accumulated certain toxins from the harmful alga Alexandrium fundyense. McGillicuddy will reveal this organism’s complex life cycle, share observations and models to expose the underlying dynamics of these algal blooms, and describe a bloom forecasting system. Mote thanks PNC Wealth Management for sponsoring this lecture.
  
• March 11: “Conservation of Marine Mammals: What It Is and What It Isn’t.  A Case Study for Manatees and Dugongs” by Dr. John Reynolds, Director of the International Consortium for Marine Conservation and Manager of the Manatee Research Program, Mote Marine Laboratory
  Reynolds will speak about the conservation of manatees and related species called dugongs to provide pragmatic steps for successfully conserving wildlife and natural environments. He will reveal why successful conservation must involve other disciplines that ultimately are likely to have a greater impact on the future of our world than the natural sciences, although the sciences should ideally play a key role in informing decisions. As Director of the Mote-sponsored International Consortium for Marine Conservation, Reynolds hopes to focus strengths at Mote and elsewhere on clear conservation achievements.

Mote's Special Lecture Series is sponsored in-part by Robert and Jill Williams.