WEST ORANGE — The Sea Turtle Recovery Building at the Turtle Back Zoo was struck by lighting, which caused a fire that led to a busy night as people scrambled to save the endangered animals inside the building.
“Lightning struck the building at about 9:40 on Wednesday,” said Bill Deerr, co executive officer of Sea Turtle Recovery.
The lighting strike disabled the fire notification box but “luckily there were some zoo staff on the grounds who noticed that the lighting hit our building and started the fire,” Deerr said.
The West Orange Fire Department responded quickly and put the fire out but the building was full of smoke.
Sea Turtle Recovery is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of sea turtles and providing public outreach. The Sea Turtle Recovery Center is a 4,000 square foot facility with life support systems that uses UV and ozone to provide a safe environment for the sea turtles to heal until they can be released.
The Turtle Back Zoo opened as usual last Thursday but the Sea Turtle Recovery Building was closed. Anthony Puglisi, a spokesman for Essex County which owns the zoo, said lightning struck the recovery building, causing damage to its roof.
“All sea turtles in the building were immediately removed from the building and have now been relocated to Atlantic Marine Conservation Society in New York,” Puglisi said. “The turtles are safe, and they are being monitored closely.”
Deerr said the turtles were evacuated as soon as fire officials gave the OK.
“We were able to move them to another building with a stable temperature,’ Deerr said. “We evaluated them, cleaned them of smoke and ash and
gave them fluids.”
A turtle named Pickles was suffering the most, dehydrated and with a decreased heart rate. The staffers who responded to the fire got in touch with the facilitie’s veterinarian, who prescribed medication and treatment.
“We set up a temporary swimming pool to stimulate her heart rate,” Deerr said. “It took her a few minutes to come around but she began exhibiting normal behaviors.”
Once all five of the turtles from the facility were stabilized, they were sent to the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, which is a partner facility on Long Island. Atlantic Marine offered space until the West Orange facility could be repaired.
Three of the five turtles were Kemp’s Ridley turtles, one was a loggerhead and the fifth a green sea turtle. All of the turtles are endangered species with the Kemp’s Ridley turtles being the most endangered turtles species in the world with less than 10,000 left in existence. Pickles is a Kemp’s Ridley turtle.
The staff was still evaluating the damage to the building but they are hoping to get everything repaired and back to normal as quickly as possible because as the weather gets colder and turtles migrate that is when they wash ashore in larger numbers.
Sea Turtle Recovery is based at the Turtle Back Zoo and a portion of their facility is open to the public but they are a separate non-profit organization. People can donate on their website, https://seaturtlerecovery.org.
Prior to Sea Turtle Recovery’s opening, endangered and threatened sea turtles that stranded in New Jersey due to illness or injury could be stabilized in New Jersey but, if they needed long term care, had to be transferred out of state.
In 2016, Sea Turtle Recovery and the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo joined together for conservation. The Turtle Back Zoo donated the 4,000 square foot facility and in return, STR provides outreach and sea turtle rehabilitation inside the zoo.
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