You may remember his story. He was admitted with oozing wounds from a chemical burn. He recovered nicely under our care and things were looking good for a release.
But Valor developed a buoyancy problem.
He couldn’t get to and remain on the bottom of his tank. This may not sound like an issue to a human, but for a sea turtle, it's a deadly condition.
If a sea turtle can’t submerge he can’t eat. He would also be an easy target for predation as he floated on the surface day and night.
We were never able to resolve Valor’s issue but we were able to create a spot for Valor to sleep and hide in his tank – his little white laundry basket.
He loved working his way into the basket, flippers out through the handle holes as he napped. He would also move back-and-forth in the basket using it as a backscratcher.
But most of all, Valor loved attention.
And he got plenty of it not only from our staff but also from our visitors. There were probably more pictures taken of Valor than any other turtle on tour – he was that photogenic – and that accommodating.
But life in a laundry basket for a turtle that was going to grow to 400-lbs. was not a good thing.
Several years ago we started looking for a permanent home for him. It was a long process but sea turtle people are great at networking.
Since Valor was admitted during our first year in the new hospital, three years ago, he’s met over 150,000 people. He has lots of friends – literally all over the world – who were rooting for him to find a new home.
We finally got some promising news about a project in Scottsdale, AZ, a state-of-the-art facility that would have a huge aquarium, OdySea.
It looked like a fantastic place for Valor. He was used to being the center of attention at our hospital and we knew he’d be a hit with their visitors. It took a bit of time to work out the specifics but he was going for sure, the “when” and “how” as yet to be determined.
Last week we got the final details on Valor’s journey: he was to be at Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach early in the morning where he would rendezvous’ with his travelling companions, both human and aquatic. Our hospital volunteers, Judy Ferrier and Betsey Crupper arrived before 5 a.m. to chauffeur Valor (and his laundry basket) to Ripley’s.
Upon arrival Valor was prepared for his trip across the country, transported by a company specializing in moving aquatic animals.
He would be in an air-ride semi, safely padded and protected in two large tanks. And an aquatic specialist would be travelling with them stopping every few hours to make sure that all of her passengers were handling the adventure without any problems.
After almost two days on the road Valor arrived at his new home in the desert – safe and sound. At this writing he had passed his physical with flying colors and was in a large tank that is 10-ft. deep. He is acclimating nicely.
There have already been a lot of Facebook posts from the southwest branch of his fan club, “Team Valor.” We wouldn’t be surprised if they were lined up on opening day to see him again and hopefully it won’t be long before he’s greeting the desert folk in his new home, posing for yet more pictures. We’ll keep you posted as we get more news.
Be sure to visit him if your travels take you to the Scottsdale area.
By Karen Sota
communications specialist for the sea turtle hospital
