At some point in every child's youth, they become absolutely obsessed with something. Some kids like bugs, others prefer space and dinosaurs, and everyone knew that one girl that was really into horses. Yet, for some odd reason, every schoolkid becomes completely enthralled by turtles. This phenomenon can be divided into three varieties of turtle: land, sea, and teenage mutant ninja.
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As a child, I fell under the sea turtle category. I got my daily dose of reptiles through Animal Planet, books, and cartoons, but it was never enough. I needed to see these turtles to truly understand their majesty, but above all, I needed to see a hatchling release. I longed to see the turtles hatch from their eggs, emerge from the sand and scuttle their way from the safety of the beach into the danger and wonder of the ocean, to witness the most important moment of a sea turtle's life. Most of the turtles would never come back, and those that did would return to the same beach to hatch their eggs, continuing the circle of life.
So when my friend invited me along to South Padre Island, home of the Kemp's Ridley, to see a hatchling release, my inner second grader leapt at the opportunity.
Like any pregnancy, sea turtle hatchlings have a due date, but it isn't always accurate. Despite the careful data analysis of the researchers in South Padre and my friend's analysis of the Sea Turtle Inc. Facebook page, we missed the hatchling release. It broke my heart, missing what was supposed to be the most beautiful event I would ever experience (apologies to my unborn children). Luckily, the trip was not over. I got to see plenty of sea turtles, all thanks to a little old lady who's fascination with the Kemp's Ridley made my trip possible.
Ila Fox Loetscher, like all people, was fascinated by our shelled friends, but her passion for sea turtles bloomed later in life. Born in 1904, Loetscher's journey to becoming the famed Turtle Lady began not in the sea, but in the sky. The Iowa native was the first female pilot in her home state and an original member of the Ninety-Nines, the international women's aviation association, along her good friend, Amelia Earhart. However, it wasn't until 1965 that Loetscher came down to Earth and began her fascination with sea turtles. Following her husband's passing, Loetscher moved to South Padre Island, Texas, where she met Dearyl Adams, a Brownsville contractor who recruited her to help study nesting sites for Project Ridley in Rancho Nuevo, New Mexico, with the goal of transplanting hatchlings to South Padre Island to restore the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle population, which was depleting due to poaching of the turtles for their leather. During the course of the next two weeks, Loetscher would spend every night aiding in the hatchling releases, slowly falling in love with the flippered creatures. At the end of the trip, she had decided to spend the rest of her life devoted to protecting sea turtles and went home with three hatchlings of her own.
Upon her return to South Padre, Loetscher was granted a permit to hold sea turtles in captivity for the purpose of study and rehabilitation. Her own home became a refuge for turtles and tourists alike. She began to rehabilitate injured and sick turtles that washed ashore and became an advocate for turtle conservation and protecting the beach and ocean they call home. She liked to dress her turtles up in costumes to entertain her guests in an effort to educate tourists about the endangered animals. Word got around about the zany woman and her sea turtles. Soon, the entire nation was talking about the Turtle Lady.
David Letterman, Johnny Carson, and Jacques Cousteau are just a few of the Turtle Lady's fans. Ila Loetscher toured around the world with her impeccably dressed turtles and gave talks about wildlife conservation and the endangerment of the Kemp's Ridley on television, pioneering the conservation movement, and made appearances on The Late Show and The Tonight Show with her educational turtle Gerry, the Atlantic Green.
By 1977, The Turtle Lady's influence and popularity had outgrown her backyard, leading her to found Sea Turtle Inc., a non-profit sea turtle hospital in South Padre, where she continued her mission until her passing in 2000. Sea Turtle Inc. carries on Loetscher's legacy as a teaching facility and tourist attraction. Students from all over the country apply for summer internships for the opportunity to learn about the turtles hands-on. Members of the public can stop by to learn about Ila and her turtles, as well as the injured and sick turtles that live at the hospital until their release back to the ocean, and some permanent residents, such as Allison, the Atlantic Green with only one flipper, who regained the ability to swim freely thanks to a prosthesis. Other patients include Gerry, who toured the world with Ila as an educational turtle, and Shakira, an Atlantic Green with buoyancy problems due to a boating accident that fractured her shell, trapping air underneath, giving her a "bubble butt", thus the origin of her name. Shakira is a part of a social media movement to fundraise for the hospital, in which visitors can snap selfies with the turtle and post them using the hashtag #ISawShakira, to attract her pop star counterpart's attention. Some progress has been made on that front, as the hospital has been in contact with human Shakira's publicist, and hopes to have the Shakiras meet in the future.
I may not have been able to see the hatchling release, but I got to learn so much more. Ila Fox Loetscher's work saved the Kemp's Ridley, and thanks to her, I got the chance to see something I've dreamed of ever since I was a little girl. If it hadn't been for her passion, I might have never heard of the Kemp's Ridley, let alone seen one. Thank you Ila, for making me turtle-crazy again. I hope to visit your turtles again soon.
Sea Turtle Inc.'s final hatchling release is set for mid-August, right before school starts again. If you get the chance, I "turtle-ly" recommend visiting South Padre Island and Sea Turtle Inc. to see the resident turtles and the "egg-cellent" work being done to continue the Turtle Lady's mission. Trust me, they are "flipping" awesome, I wouldn't try to "shell" you out. I hope to "sea" you there!
To learn more about Ila and Sea Turtle Inc., visit www.seaturtleinc.org
