The Turtle Hospital in Marathon

In all the years we have been coming down to the Keys we have never stopped to take a tour of the turtle hospital.  We have often heard calls over the VHF when people are trying to get in touch with the Florida Parks and Wildlife due to injured turtles.

Visiting the hospital was a very interesting experience, and truly makes you more aware of who you are sharing the ocean with.  There are only 7 species of sea turtle in the world, and many of them are endangered. 

Some of the functions the hospital performs are surgery, laser surgery, rehabilitation, release and when all else fails humane euthanization.

To learn more about the Turtle Hospital of the Keys (there are many throughout the world), visit turtlehospital.org

The surgical suite.  There is a vet that donates his time to help the turtles.

Some of the patients in recovery, due to them being cold blooded reptiles, the anesthetic
procedure is a lot more complecated.

One of the patients in a recovery tank.

The permanent residents in the tidal tank.