Experience

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  Sea Turtle, Inc.

  • United States
  • Non-profit Organizations
  • 1 - 100 Employee

  • Director of Animal Care

    • Dec 2021 - Present

    Manage health/care of all animals at facility. Supervise and train department of 4 full-time staff members. 2-3 specialized interns annually during their rehabilitation rotation. Teach proper treatment methods, medications, injection techniques, safe restraint practices, and flipper tag application.Manage intake process for new sea turtle patient arrivals including paperwork, bloodwork, and radiographs. Record weekly status updates and photos to track healing progression. Assist with veterinary treatment and rehabilitation of sea turtles through direct animal care. Responsible for medical treatment, feeding, cleaning, enrichment, rescues and releases. Treat hospital patients with injections, cold-laser therapy, wound debridement/flushing, and manuka honey massage therapy. Tube feed when necessary. Perform blood draws up to 3cc creating blood smears for WBC estimates. Prepare and interpret blood chemistry parameters, perform in-house PCV readings, total protein readings, and glucose readings. Assist Veterinarian during Fibropapillomatosis tumor removal surgeries including intubation, monitoring respiration, and finding/monitoring heart rate of the patient post-surgery. Under the direction of Veterinarian euthanize terminal sea turtle patients. Led multiple necropsies of deceased patients, identifying and removing specific internal organs for preparing tissue samples for analysis. Responsible for a 24-hour emergency stranding phone on multiple nights per week and providing emergency response to reports of stranded turtles. Rescue entangled/hooked sea turtles, carry them back to shore and stabilize them for transport to the hospital for emergency care. Under zoological permit, collect hundreds of living fish specimens for inclusion in the Gulf of Mexico exhibits. Carry out quarantine and husbandry of new specimens after collection and prior to exhibit display. Designed alligator snapping turtle exhibit, bringing the species to the facility for the first time.

  • Rehabilitation Specialist

    • Jan 2019 - Dec 2021

    Supervise and train 8-10 interns annually during their rehabilitation rotation. Teach proper treatment methods, medications, injection techniques, safe restraint practices, and flipper tag application.Manage intake process for new sea turtle patient arrivals including paperwork, bloodwork, and radiographs. Record weekly status updates and photos to track healing progression. Assist with veterinary treatment and rehabilitation of sea turtles through direct animal care. Responsible for medical treatment, feeding, cleaning, enrichment, rescues and releases. Treat hospital patients with injections, cold-laser therapy, wound debridement/flushing, and manuka honey massage therapy. Tube feed when necessary. Perform blood draws up to 3cc creating blood smears for WBC estimates. Prepare and interpret blood chemistry parameters, perform in-house PCV readings, total protein readings, and glucose readings. Assist Veterinarian and LVT during Fibropapillomatosis tumor removal surgeries including intubation, monitoring respiration, and finding/monitoring heart rate of the patient post-surgery. Under the direction of Veterinarian and LVT, euthanize terminal sea turtle patients. Led multiple necropsies of deceased patients, identifying and removing specific internal organs for preparing tissue samples for analysis. Responsible for a 24-hour emergency stranding phone on multiple nights per week and providing emergency response to reports of stranded turtles. Rescue entangled/hooked sea turtles, carry them back to shore and stabilize them for transport to the hospital for emergency care. Under zoological permit, collect hundreds of living fish specimens for inclusion in the Gulf of Mexico exhibits. Carry out quarantine and husbandry of new specimens after collection and prior to exhibit display. Assist with clicker-training a blind cownose ray. Provide rehabilitation of injured Texas tortoise patients, designing a habitat using native plants and substrates.

  • Winter Rehabilitation/Husbandry Intern

    • Aug 2018 - Jan 2019

    Provided veterinarian-directed medical care to Kemps ridley, Atlantic green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, Texas tortoises, and fish. Administered injections to injured/sick sea turtles, calculating specific medication doses for each hospital patient. Assisted in keeping detailed medical records of all hospital patients. Took 3-view radiographs, assisted with tumor removal surgeries to treat turtles with Fibropapillomatosis and provided strict quarantine on infected patients. Performed dozens of IV blood draws. Assisted with necropsies. Registered and disseminated biological samples. Processed photos, confirmed species, and prepared reports.Caught/fed live crabs to the hospital patients to test hunting abilities and encourage natural behaviors to prepare them for release. Monitored and maintained water quality for hospital patients.

  • Summer Intern

    • Mar 2018 - Aug 2018

    Performed 8-hour, 64-mile ATV beach patrols searching for nesting Kemp’s ridley sea turtles. Collected biopsy samples from live turtles and gathered data on both live/dead sea turtles. Applied scientific PIT-tags and metal tags to nesting turtles and hospital patients before release. Excavated nests and relocated eggs to a protected corral for hatching. Tracked and reported nesting/stranding data. In the hospital, administered injections to injured/sick sea turtles, tested and maintained water quality, performed tank vacuuming, meal preparation, and general animal husbandry. Presented sea turtle informational sessions to public audiences in a 200-seat amphitheater setting.

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  University of California, Davis (Ducks Unlimited)

  • Davis, CA

  • Fieldwork Intern

    • Sep 2016 - Dec 2016
    • Davis, CA

    During the fall, I worked for Ducks Unlimited and traveling through the Central Valley of California studying waterfowl. More specifically I helped collected soil samples in both dry and flooded rice fields as well as corn fields to help study the effects of different post-harvest treatments on the diets of the waterfowl. The project gave me valuable field experience both in identifying different species of waterfowl as well as collecting and analyzing soil. The project gave me extensive knowledge and gave me some vital tools for working in the field including GPS coordinates, a greater understanding of bird species as well as their diets, and how to analyze soil samples and use that information to see the effects on the birds.

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  Oakland Zoo

  • Oakland, CA

  • Commissary/Nightkeeper Intern

    • Jun 2016 - Sep 2016
    • Oakland, CA

    This summer I worked as the commissary/nightkeeper intern for the Oakland Zoo. The internship gave me some amazing hands-on experiences including feeding and shifting some of the animals into their night houses. The internship also gave me the tools to identify specific individuals of a species and monitor their behaviors. I was responsible for over 10 of our animals’ diets and was trained to observe changes that needed to be made for either health or preferential reasons. Some of the species I was able to work with or study include sun bears, hamadryas baboons, squirrel monkeys, giraffes, elephants, blue and gold macaws, hadada ibis, hamerkops, whistling ducks, fruit bats, as well as many other species. I talked with my zookeepers about their notes that they complete each day and night for their specific animals and helped give me the tools to determine what behaviors the animals are exhibiting as well as the overall health of the animal. I attended lectures during my internship at the zoo that gave me lessons on subjects including population management, behavioral observation, conservation, as well as other topics regarding animal care.