On May 3, 2017, Bruce arrived at the Aquarium Sea Turtle Hospital which I'm sure you all remember hearing about. As a refresher, Ray and Lucy Hoover, and Lauryn Gilmer discovered Bruce on their walk. Terry Fansler, Sandy MacCoss and Bill Greubel arrived on the scene expecting to do probing and discovered a stranding of a very sick loggerhead turtle instead. They were able to get the turtle into the Turtle Patrol Truck. Keeping the turtle hydrated, they drove the truck to the Fansler's driveway to await the Department of Natural Resources. By mid-morning, Jenna Cormany from the DNR arrived and the crew moved the turtle to the DNR truck for transport to the Turtle Hospital at the South Carolina Aquarium.
Below is the most recent report on Bruce and it is a most happy one!
“July 3, 2017: Bruce’s flipper is continuing to heal. We pulled Bruce out of his tank so our veterinary staff could look at his wound. We are very hopeful he’ll be able to keep the whole flipper! We also spotted some leeches on him so he got a nice freshwater bath for 4 hours before returning to his tank. Since the leeches are salt water organisms, a dip in fresh water killed them off while being perfectly safe for Bruce. Bruce is continuing to gain weight and eating an assortment of fish as well. He’s on the road to recovery.”
If you’d like to follow Bruce’s progress, here’s the link at the Aquarium web site - http://scaquarium.org/Bruce
I am so happy for Bruce! I knew he had it in him!!
Terry Fansler
