Turtle information centre, and a great combination of wildlife conservation, research, education and tourism
Jennie Gilbert and her husband run a large veterinary clinic in Cairns, and Jennie is also a researcher of marine turtles at James Cook University. In 2000, she and fellow marine biologist Paul Barnes started one of Australia’s largest voluntary turtle rehabilitation centres with an attached interpretation centre presently being built.
Scuba divers coming ashore on Fitzroy Island
I recently visited the turtle rehabilitation centre , on Fitzroy Island, near Cairns, Far North Queensland.
Fitzroy is a beautiful little continental island with fringing reef. Just over an hour’s ferry ride from Cairns, it includes rainforest walks, lovely beaches, mountainous terrain (it is essentially a mountain top with most of the rest of the mountain now covered by sea) and coral you can snorkel amongst just by walking out fro the beach. Not quite as diverse as the outer reef, there are still plenty of species of fish foraging amongst the corals, and I was especially thrilled when a unicorn fish passed close to me.
The turtle hospital is near the best snorkelling area, and when I visited had just two turtles in the tanks (I was told there were a few more at the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre on the mainland). One – an olive Ridley turtle – was very badly injured when first brought in and recovery is taking while.
Green turtle (usually herbivorous) eating a squid at the Turtle Hospital, Fitzroy Island
The other, a green turtle, is doing very well and will probably be released fairly soon. Since green turtles are herbivorous, I was surprised to see her eating squid, but they apparently adapt very readily to that in captivity.
You can easily visit Fitzroy Island as a day-trip from Cairns, but even better you can stay overnight, either at the campground or the very attractive and comfortable Fitzroy Resort
The turtle information centre is due to open a little later this year: keep tuned for a report here from Jennie.
Further reading (on Jennie Gilbert, turtle research and turtle rehabilitation):
http://www.nailsma.org.au/news/20090706.html
http://www.zoominfo.com/#!search/profile/person?personId=1264094801&targetid=profile
Jennie Gilbert with a green turtle on Fitzroy Island. The missing piece of shell on her right hand side will never re-grow, but she has now recovered well from other injuries and is soon to be released )
Hello am Effie Ombache from Kenya tropical sealife. We have a rehabilitation center on sea turtle. I have a concern on how you feed your turtles and how you get your foods?
Physical examination how is it conducted?
Afternoon! Im about to delve into a marine biology course at jcu in townsville. I was wondering if any of your marine biologists would have a spare few minutes to chat with me about the future of my pathway to work with turtles as im not sure im 100% on the right track. Would be muchly appreciated.
Sorry for the mistake. Ronda, this is supposed to be directed towards you. I’ve put it as Kerena. MY mistake!
Apologies!
Hi Smrutica
If you’d like to contact me via the Contact page I can send you Jennie’s email (I don’t like to give out anyone’s email address on a public page, in case they don’t want me to do so) – or you could google for Fitzroy Island and contact the managers of the resort there, as they are in frequent contact with Jennie
I’ve messaged you 🙂
Thank you!
J
Hi Kerena,
My name is Smrutica and I just finished my Masters in Marine Conservation from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. I volunteered in Costa Rica for about 5 weeks, working with turtle conservation. ever since I’ve had this passion to work with turtles! saw this blog, and was wondering if there was any way I can get in touch with Jennie, as I would like to be a part of her team and hopefully fulfil my dream of working with sea turtles.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
Smrutica
This is such a wonderful blog. I am from the UK and have traveled to Australia to be able to have the chance to work with sea turtles. Ever since I was in college and watched a documentary on sea turtles I knew I wanted to work with them. I went to university and studied zoology with conservation which then made me want to work with them even more.
I am trying still to be of some service as I came to Queensland and was told I was out of season.
I could not believe this animals need help all year round. If there is any volunteering that you know of or contact details you could share it would be much appreciated. Thanks again for this site,
Mona
I am so interested and learnt only tonight, about the turtle rehab centre at Fitzroy Island.
I have a special interest in turtles, especially green sea turtles and would love to do some voluntary work there in June 2013. My background is as an RN, working in Child and Family health in the community, in Sydney. So as you can imagine I’m more experienced in working with sick humans; but turtles have captured my interest since July this year,when
I was on Big Island of Hawaii and experienced many turtles there.I would love to hear from you or your staff about any volunteering opportunities on Firzroy Island.
cheers,
Kerena Dorise
Hi Kerena
Thanks for your interest
Jennie has asked for your email, which I’ve now sent on to her. I know she’s very busy at the moment, so don’t worry too much if there’s a bit of a delay in hearing from her
Cheers
Ronda
Wonderful View of Marine Turtle Rehabilitation Centre. A definitive place to visit.