Caring for South Carolina's sea turtle population

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. We proclaim pride in our sea turtles, but some die from ingesting plastic from litter. The South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston can save turtles suffering from various complaints. One turtle found by a fellow Extension agent, Katie Collins, went there and was successfully operated on and restored to good health. Collins talked with the staff and learned how they can sometimes save turtles with problems from collisions with boats, or swallowing fish hooks or plastics, or coming close to freezing. If you search YouTube the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center, you can see the happy ending for a turtle so covered with barnacles nearly its whole shell was impacted. Our crew filmed the story of this one fortunate reptile.