Sea Turtle Rescue

With just over 1000 remaining in the wild, Kemp's Ridley turtles are among the rarest on the planet. So when a ship accidentally injures two of them--one severely--the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center team must race to perform emergency surgery and save a valuable member of this endangered species.

A green sea turtle nicknamed Conch has a hole in his shell with an accompanying infection, while an encounter with a stingray leaves a juvenile loggerhead turtle injured from a sting. It's another busy summer day in the hectic schedule of the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center.

It's a tale of two turtles at the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center as a pair of endangered Kemp's Ridleys face wildly different outcomes: Hopper has minor abrasions from a dredging accident and is cleared for release. Glen, on the other hand, needs a never-before-attempted procedure to save his life.

It's a big day on Folly Beach as the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center gets ready to release two rehabilitated Kemp's Ridley turtles. Every turtle returned to the wild is a major victory for this critically endangered and embattled species.

The South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center has come across the eighth sea turtle this year--a female loggerhead named Sumter--with the same, baffling symptom: cloudy vision. Luckily, a local surgeon has offered to perform cataract surgery. Can Sumter's sight be restored with this radical procedure?