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Sea Turtle Hospital
Topsail Island is home to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, one of only two in the U.S. The Center cares for and rehabilitates injured loggerhead and other species of turtles and releases them back into the sea or finds other homes for them. Staffed by volunteers, the Center has been invaluable in the help and protection it has provided for sea turtles.
Founder and director, Jean Beasley, who was the 2007 recipient of Animal Planet’s Hero of the Year award, hopes to build a new $1 million, 16,000 to 18,000-square-foot facility soon. The new facility, to be located on four acres in Surf City, will replace the current 850-square-foot hospital, which can handle only about 20 turtles per year.
Volunteers protect and watch the many nests sea turtles build on the island each year. They have attached tracking devices to some of their patients who have been returned to the ocean so their movements can be monitored and more can be learned about their habits. We can’t do justice in this book to activities of this wonderful group, but you can learn more at www.seaturtlehospital.org.