In BACKWATER GUMSHOE, Shoes and the gang work to save a fictitious sea turtle named Marble. Even though Marble isn’t a real turtle, there really is a turtle hospital in Marathon, FL.
They've treated and released over 1500 sea turtles.
The Turtle Hospital does four main things:
1) Rehabilitate injured sea turtles and return them to the ocean
2) Educate the public
3) Research sea turtles
4) Help make our beaches and oceans safe for sea turtles
School Visits
If you live near the Florida Keys, you can set up a school visit. Live too far away? No problem! The Turtle Hospital can set up a Skype visit for your classroom. Show your teacher this link:
The hospital counts on people like you to help.
Here’s what you can do:
1) Your class could adopt a sea turtle of your choice!
2) Dispose of fishing line properly. In BACKWATER GUMSHOE, Marble lost his flipper due to being tangled in fishing line. Fishing line takes 600 years to biodegrade. 600 YEARS! Don’t throw it in the water. If you see some, pick it up. Place it in a recycle bin, instead of the trash.
3) Be a responsible boater like Shoes. Be careful around sea grass beds and always keep an eye out for floating turtles. Boats go a lot faster than a sea turtle can dive out of the way.
4) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Like Mak in BACKWATER GUMSHOE, get a re-useable water bottle instead of a throw away. Did you know it takes 500 years for those water bottles to biodegrade? And to think, we only use them for about five minutes.
Check out this link to learn about all of the sea turtles currently being helped by the turtle hospital: