Sea Turtle Rehab Center in Boca Raton is closing due to financial shortfall

After Blossom got sick and injured, she was given surgery and proper nutrition to heal.

Eugene was “cold-stunned” and covered in barnacles.

Now, the juvenile sea turtles are improving — Blossom is on the brink of re-release, which she clearly is antsy for as she slaps her fins against the sides of her holding tank on a recent afternoon. And Eugene is “Eating well!!!” according to notes about his recovery.

They both received care at the Turtle Rehab Center within the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton. But the center closed for good on Friday and will not be taking in new turtles. The nonprofit conservation organization The Coastal Stewards, which is behind the center, cited “ongoing financial challenges.”

“Like many environmental nonprofits, The Coastal Stewards has faced increasing difficulty securing consistent and sustainable funding,” Shivani Gupta, a Board of Trustee Member for The Coastal Stewards, said in a statement. “This difficult decision allows us to reallocate resources and focus on our long-standing commitment to marine conservation education and empowering the next generation of ocean advocates.”

The Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, which is run by the city of Boca Raton, will stay open and continue its other conservation programs, such such as sea turtle nest protection and counting. Gumbo Limbo’s three resident sea turtles — Lefty, Morgan and Lady McNubbins — will remain there for the duration of their lives.

The Coastal Stewards board of trustees chair Ata Sarajedini said the organization had a shortfall in projected donations and did not see that changing.

“As the Coastal Stewards organization, we are still very much interested in conservation — beach conservation, marine life conservation, educating the future leaders in the area of environmental conservation,” Sarajedini said. “So education and science education is still part of our mission.”

Running the rehab center was an expensive aspect of The Coastal Steward’s operations, so ceasing it may lead to the organization allocating more funds to educational goals.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will decide where to transfer the 13 sea turtles — potential new locations include Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach and Zoo Miami. Until then, they will remain at Gumbo Limbo and receive veterinary care.

Most of the patients were harmed due to interaction with the human world, be it getting tangled in netting or fishing line,…