2/5/10

Surgery at Gumbo Limbo

Here is a quick update on some of the turtles down at The Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Last Tuesday January 26th Disney came down with a surgical truck to assist in the removal of papilloma tumors (learn more about these tumors here) of 35 green sea turtles.

Above you can see Dr. Mettee removing some tumors from the inguinal area of one of the 35 sea turtles that were operated on. The veterinarians were using lasers that cauterize as they cut. As described in a previous blog these tumors are highly vascularized, meaning they bleed a lot after being cut which is why using a laser is key.

Flushing an eye of an intubated turtles after a tumor was removed.

A pile of fibropapilloma tumors. (Photos taken by Phil Elmore Courtesy of Dr. Nancy Mettee)

Below are two videos that were shot by the team at Gumbo Limbo during the surgeries. Warning video is of surgical procedures they may be graphic to some viewers!

Last I heard all 35 animals are doing well and they are monitoring the sites of tumor removals. Hopefully all the turtles will make a quick recovery and be able to be released as soon as allowable.

-Adam

Labels: Adam, Green Sea Turtle, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, intubation, papilloma tumors, surgery

1/29/10

Fibropapilloma

Looking over the past blogs I noticed we never really covered what fibropapilloma is. Fibropapilloma is type of herpes virus that inflicts sea turtles. It mostly affects green sea turtles, but there are cases in loggerhead, olive ridley, and flatback sea turtles as well. There is also anectdotal evidence in kemp's ridley, hawksbill and leatherback sea turtles. The virus occurs globally.

The majority of the tumors are benign meaning that the tumor themselves will not kill the animal. However, tumors of the eyes, mouth and internal tumors can hinder the animal's ability to forage for food. Large tumors can also add drag to the turtles which, can slow the animal, making it easy prey.

Smooth small paps to the left, a large bulbous "cauliflower" pap to the right (the reddish color is iodine).

There are varieties of tumors. Some are smooth and some are cauliflower. They range in colors from pink to black. There is speculation about different stages of the disease causing these outward appearances.

The paps on the left are slightly necrotic. The one to the right was large extremely dense and would adversely affect the animal's ability to swim.

Tumors are most prevalent on intermediate size turtles, which would be why we have not had any tumors on our cold-stun turtles. All of our animals are juveniles approximately 2-5 years of age. It is very rare to see these tumors on adults. Also, the majority of FP cases come out of areas with high levels of pollution, such as lagoons, estuaries, shallow areas and, from what I have been told, Florida's Intercoastal Waterway.

You can see on the turtle above how the large tumors would weigh the animal down and limit it's ability to escape predation.

Currently there is no cure or treatment for fibropapilloma the only way to clear it up is to surgically remove the tumors. Researchers are still unsure as to how the tumors are triggered and how the virus is transmitted. There is still a lot of research to be done.

We went to Florida because of our expertise in cold-stunned animals, but I learned a lot about FP. This was just some information I learned while helping out, and by reading some journal articles upon our return to Boston (you, too, can read them here, here, here and here).

-Adam

Labels: Adam, FP, Green Sea Turtle, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, loggerhead, papilloma tumors, tumors

1/23/10

Another day in "PAP Land".

This was our last full day at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Preserve and it was another action packed one.

Above Cleon, Juan, and Anthony treat turtles.

We started first thing by treating a small green sea turtle with it's last dose of antibiotics and I checked its eyes to make sure it had no corneal lesions so that it would be ok for release. This turtle was down in the area that has been affectionately proclaimed "pap" land as all the turtles have papilloma tumors. This is the area I have been working in for the past few days.

This little guy had no stain uptake and was cleared for release.

After confirming this turtle had no corneal lesions it was slated to be released with three other turtles later in the day.

Thanks so much to Cody for shooting this video as he was releasing the turtles.

As we continued on through the day looking at different papilloma tumors, treating eye injuries, and determining if animals need to extend their treatment Dr. Milton was collecting tumor samples for her research into the progression of the tumors. While the turtles were waiting to be placed back into the water as they sat out with their eye treatment, samples of various tumors were taken. Her research sounds really interesting and hopefully it will help the turtles in the future.

Above you can see Dr. Milton and Heather collecting tumor samples.

As we finished our treatments I took a quick look off the back of the large tank and just appreciated the view.

Our team then went up to see if Connie and her group needed any help. They had just finished as well. They only had some turtles out finishing their eye treatments for the day (as seen below).

Once those treatments were finished we then started to try and get some more turtles eating. As with our turtles back in New England it can take some time and effort to get cold-stunned turtles to start eating again. We all concentrated our efforts on the tanks and got some turtles eating that were not and piqued the interest of other turtles which nibbled at but never ingested the food (which is a good sign!). Hopefully they will all be eating within the next few days.

We are heading back to Boston tomorrow. It has been quite an adventure!

-Adam

Labels: Green Sea Turtle, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, papilloma tumors

1/20/10

Not by the pap on my chinny chin chin...

It was another very busy day but, here is a quick post from Gumbo Limbo.

As you have seen in prior posts the FP tumors are quite significant and can cause some serious drag on these turtles. As I was treating this turtle, the tumor on its soft palate was barely hanging on. It was very necrotic, and as Connie started to treat with povidine the tumor was crumbling in her hands.

You can see in this series of picture how the tumor was dangling and how it was adversely effecting the animal.

The picture above shows a good comparison of the size of the tumor to the turtles head. The tumor was approximately 1/4th the size of its head. We disinfected the tumor and palate and then prepared to remove the tumor. These tumors are typically heavily vascularized and can bleed profusely. Due to the necrotic state of this tumor we felt comfortable that it probably did not have a blood supply feeding it. We successfully removed the tumor and there was little to no bleeding.

Above you can see the turtle after the tumor was removed. The turtle was returned to the tank and is doing well.

We are getting ready for another busy day tomorrow!

-Adam

Labels: fibropapilloma, Green Sea Turtle, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center

1/19/10

Boca or Bust!

After seeing Connie's post, I thought I would add more about our adventure down at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

After helping to intake close to 30 turtles, including an adult green weighing close to 400lbs, the decision was made to stay down at the nature center for a couple of full days. Today was our first day.

A 400lb Green Sea Turtle awaiting surgery on its FP tumors.

A reminder that once we work with these turtles we need to maintain strict quarantine as not to effect non-FP turtles.

The pictures of the tank above conatin all FP turtles. They vary in size from 20-80lbs.

The majority of turtles here are fibropapilloma (FP) turtles. They have tumors upon tumors, and some that are extremely dense and encompass a large part of the animals' soft tissue. We have seen tumors around eyes, embedded in wounds, as a matter of fact, I do not think there is a place that I have not seen an FP tumor on these animals.

The picture to the left is another FP turtle. The one to the right is ~200lb green being supported by Suzie, as you can see it almost dwarfs her! This turtle also has a crack in the plastron that has been treated with betadine and silvadene.

We have also seen some traumatic injuries. Cracked shells, puncture wounds, and monofilament injuries to name a few.

The tumor on the left is encompassing an injury to the turtles shell. The turtle on the right has tumors on top of tumors both in the inguinals and eye.

I had to include a picture of something that really grossed out Connie and, believe me, not much grosses her out. Those are leach eggs on the turtle's flipper (seen below at the end of the arrow). Which, are removed when spotted. Personally I didn't think they were that bad!

More to come!

-Adam

Labels: fibropapilloma, Green Sea Turtle, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center

1/17/10

Florida: Why are we here?

Following Sunnye and Randi's posts I have decided to answer this question. Why are Connie and myself down in Florida? As some of you may be aware Florida has undergone a severe cold stunning event. Over 3,500 sea turtles stranded across the state in a very short period of time.

Tom and I from the Loggerhead Marinelife Center move a loggerhead sea turtle.

Team members from Gumbo Limbo intake a green sea turtle with fibropapilloma.

The number of animals being brought to the various facilities was astounding. Connie had been in touch with a variety of groups that were working around the clock to help these turtles.
Recalling the hours we had to work in November during our own cold stun event, we thought maybe they could use a hand. Once we received approval we packed up, shipped supplies and headed down south. We are currently working at two facilities, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach and Gumbo Limbo in Boca Raton.