Georgia Sea Turtle Center

From YenraWiki

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC), located on historic Jekyll Island, provides rehabilitation treatment for injured sea turtles and other wildlife; conducts research and professional training in wildlife medicine, husbandry, biology and education; and offers educational programs for the public.

Since the sea turtle center opened, more than 110,000 visitors have toured the $3 million, 10,000-square-foot facility. A restored 1903 brick building that once supplied power to the Jekyll Island Club hotel houses an exhibit area, retail space, and state-of-the-art rooms dedicated to surgery, digital radiography (X-rays), and long-term treatment.

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center's rehabilitation work to protect and preserve sea turtles is just one important aspect of its mission. The center also conducts research and provides educational and awareness programs for the public.

In a twelve-month period approximately five thousand students from close to one hundred different schools and scout groups visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. In addition, the center takes its educational programs into numerous schools. At the same time, the sea turtle center is conducting groundbreaking research to develop diets and nutritional supplements to promote sea turtle health and healing. This research could benefit aquaria and rehabilitation institutions all over the world.

Since September 5, 2008, Dr. Terry M. Norton has directed the center. Dr. Norton has a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Tufts University and more than twenty years of experience working with zoos, aquaria, and free-ranging wildlife.