About 80 animals from the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island, including Kemp's ridley sea turtles and green sea turtles, as well as some freshwater turtles, a tortoise, two owls and a wood stork, took refuge at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro during Hurricane Matthew.

    The Sea Turtle Center is not affiliated with the university system but operates as a department of the Jekyll Island Authority on the state-owned island near Brunswick. However, the center has many collaborative efforts, including some with GSU, said Dr. Terry Norton, veterinarian and director of the center.

    "So I knew a lot of the people that we've worked with over the years, and it was probably the closest place we could really get to that had some facilities where we could actually set up shop and still have electricity and things to keep the animals at least somewhat comfortable," Norton said by phone from the GSU campus Friday evening, when the rain and the wind were beginning to be heard.

    The Georgia Sea Turtle Center treats and rehabilitates sick and injured animals. Some of the sea turtles have been hit by boats. Others have ingested fishhooks and fishing lines or had their flippers tangled in lines. Several of the freshwater terrapins in the center's care have been hit by cars, Norton said. The center also hatches the eggs of injured mother turtles, including those of some that don't survive, to release baby turtles back into the wild.

    Two days earlier, Norton and Jaynie Gaskin, executive director of the GSU Sea Turtle Program on St. Catherines Island, had been working together on St. Catherines when Norton took an emergency boat ride back to prepare to evacuate his center.

Statesboro connections

    As the deadly storm blasted through the Bahamas and forecasts showed it tearing up the Florida and Georgia coast, the first thoughts had been to evacuate the animals to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. But when Norton and his staff thought about the massive, slow-moving traffic situation that was developing with a mandatory coastal evacuation, they decided the animals should travel no further than Statesboro at first.

    He called Gaskin, who is also laboratory coordinator for the GSU geology and geography department, and she began making some calls of her own. Meanwhile, Norton called on other established Georgia Southern relationships, including those with a professor in the GSU biology department, Dr. David Rostal, and GSU Center for Wildlife Education Director Steve Hein.

    The Wildlife Center, also known as the Raptor Center, prepared to welcome the birds from Jekyll. But the far more numerous turtles and tortoises were to go to the Biological Sciences Building, which opened just three years ago and has animal holding facilities. Both have emergency generators.

11 turtles released

    Before leaving Jekyll, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff released 11 sea turtles that Norton determined were close to being fully recovered.

    "We felt like we had to make a decision on what's going to be best because there were two loggerheads in there which were well over a hundred pounds," he said. "We wouldn't have been able to put everybody in our vehicles, and we were getting ready to release them over the next few weeks."

    Norton felt more comfortable with this decision when the turtles released on the beach took off for the ocean, he said.

    Then, in something like a hospital evacuation, staff members packed equipment and the remaining animals, as well as their own children and pets, and left for Statesboro at midday Thursday.

    Meanwhile, graduate students from the GSU biology department cleaned animal holding rooms and set up tanks for the turtles. When the caravan of vehicles arrived, more student volunteers were there to help move the animals and equipment indoors.

    "It was amazing," Gaskin said. "We pulled up here at the biology building, and there were probably, like, 30 students, you know, and faculty standing outside waiting to help. It was really awesome."

    Seventeen people from the Jekyll Island contingent, including the center's staff and their family members, traveled to Statesboro with the animals, Norton said. Some checked into hotels, but others were put up in homes offered by GSU faculty and staff.

    Despite some fallen trees nearby, regular electrical power never went off at the biology building. Norton continued to treat animals in "a little mobile MASH unit" set up there, Gaskin said.

On to Atlanta

    But by Sunday, a limitation of the turtle sheltering situation became pressing. With no filtration system, staff members and volunteers had to empty the water and refill the tubs regularly and were quickly going through the supply of salt mix to make simulated seawater, according to Gaskin and Norton.

    So almost all of the turtles were moved again, this time to the Georgia Aquarium and Zoo Atlanta, where there were filtration systems. By then, some Sea Turtle Center staff members also needed to return to check their homes, Gaskin said.

    Monday afternoon, Norton was driving back to Jekyll from Atlanta. He hoped to be able to return to the center to check its condition Tuesday. But from what he had heard, the damage was limited mainly to downed trees and power lines. There wasn't much flooding because the storm passed there at low tide, he said.

    The further move to Atlanta, he said, did not lessen the significance of Georgia Southern's help.

    "It was a very significant effort and helped us a lot," Norton said. "To me, it's a big story, and it doesn't matter if there were other institutions involved, it shows that cooperation is a great thing and everybody wants to help, and Georgia Southern was one of those."

'Southern's Hospitality'

    In fact, the three birds, namely the wood stork, a screech owl and a barred owl, remained Tuesday at the GSU Wildlife Education Center, where Gaskin was visiting to feed them and administer their medications. She was also taking care of two hatchling box turtles in her office.

    All the animals will probably return to Jekyll Island in about a week, she said.

    Georgia Southern's own long-established sea turtle program, which she directs, doesn't ordinarily house animals. From May to September each year, participants monitor the beaches of St. Catherines Island, protect nests, check the condition of mother turtles and make sure hatchlings find their way to the sea. About 18 to 20 graduate and undergraduate students help each summer. Not all are students majoring in biology, or even geology.

    "It's a diverse mix," Gaskin said. "That's one thing that this event has really taught us. Everyone loves sea turtles, no matter what your background is."

    The barred owl and wood stork will be transferred Wednesday to St. Catherines Island to continue their recovery, Gaskin said. Norton gave Gaskin permission to name the stork, and she has named her Southern's Hospitality.

            Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.