Canadian boy helps heal, release sea turtles

KIAWAH ISLAND — More than 500 people gathered on the beach to cheer the release of three sea turtles back into the ocean Sunday afternoon.

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Sea Turtle Release

Hundreds of spectators gathered Sunday at Beachwalker County Park on Kiawah Island to watch the release of two Kemp's ridley sea turtles, dubbed Wadmalaw and Winyah, and one loggerhead sea turtle called Kiawah. The three turtles were all rehabilitated at the South Carolina Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital.

Ethan Harrison took it all in with a big smile. The 7-year old Canadian got to carry one of the turtles back to the water. He raised almost $2,500 to help the S.C. Aquarium's Sea Turtle Rescue Program nurse the turtle back to health.

Ethan's face lit up as he carried a Kemp's ridley turtle named Wadmalaw toward freedom. A line of onlookers stretched back from the water on either side, shouting their encouragement.

The turtle strained his nose toward the ocean and paddled the air with his front flippers. He scooted the final 10 yards across the wet sand himself, slipped into the water and disappeared.

Missy Seagle of James Island watched with her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old twin boys. They heard about the sea turtle release from the children's science teacher at school.

Wadmalaw was brought to the aquarium two years ago this month with a fisherman's hook stuck in his mouth.

Ethan lives in Caledonia in Ontario. He's been fascinated with sea turtles since he was a baby, and he insisted on seeing them at the aquarium when he was 4, according to his mother, Shelley Harrison.

"He has just always gravitated toward turtles," she said. "We couldn't explain it."

Once he learned the turtles were endangered, they became his mission. The mission intensified when he met Wadmalaw.

Ethan went back home and started raising money. He coordinated garage sales, craft shows, homemade chocolate turtle sales, 10-cent bottle refunds. He and his mother presented an additional $1,000 check Sunday, bringing the total over the past three years to almost $2,500.

Two other turtles, carried by aquarium staff members, followed Wadmalaw into the ocean. A smaller Kemp's ridley turtle nearly drowned in a shrimper's net near Georgetown last September. A huge loggerhead washed up on Kiawah Island in March of this year.

They all should do fine in the ocean now, Rescue Program Manager Kelly Thorvalson said.

"Their instincts will take over," she said.