Injured sea turtles yanked from Boca nature center after employees dismissed

Endangered sea turtles were ordered removed from the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton this week, amid personnel turmoil and accusations of a toxic workplace.

Hoisted from their tanks at the popular environmental center, turtles weighing up to 150 pounds were shipped off to other facilities in South Florida at the direction of state wildlife officials.

Their departure comes amid a rocky organizational transition at the center, where the release of rescued sea turtles had been a popular spectacle at the beach. Two employees, including the one who holds a state license to rehabilitate turtles, were laid off by the city Monday, the same day the resignation of the program’s veterinarian took effect. As a result, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told the nature center it could no longer treat injured turtles and ordered them moved.

Eight green turtles and one loggerhead, including ones injured by boat strikes, fish hooks and sharks, were shipped Tuesday to Zoo Miami, Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach and Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart, according to the city of Boca Raton. Two of the turtles, named Morgan and Cane, had been permanent residents of Gumbo Limbo because they had no hope of surviving in the ocean.

[ RELATED: A 50-year-old, 388-pound sea turtle is recovering at Zoo Miami after a shark attack ]

The nature center’s sea turtle rehabilitation work has been a highly popular program, with the release of newly healthy turtles treated as festive events, with hundreds of beachgoers cheering as the big reptiles disappeared into the surf. Officials insisted Wednesday that the turtle rehabilitation would resume, although that would require new staff and a new state permit.

Whitney Crowder, who lost her job Monday as head of the sea turtle rehabilitation program, said she was “devastated about the news of the transfer of the sea turtles this week to other facilities … but mostly hurting for the permanent residents who were relocated from Gumbo Limbo after calling it home for almost 10 years.”

Kirt Rusenko, who retired in 2021 after running sea turtle programs at Gumbo Limbo for years, said he was “flabbergasted” by the news and the loss of Crowder, whom he described as “awesome.”

“I think it’s one of the stupidest things they’ve ever done.”

The removal of the sea turtles came as the city tried to get out of the business of sea turtle rehabilitation, shifting the responsibility to an affiliated non-profit group called Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards.

A sea turtle is prepared for its move from the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton after the center lost its state permit to treat the endangered reptiles. (Courtesy)

Anne Marie Connolly, spokeswoman for the city, said sea turtle rehabilitation lay outside the traditional scope of local government responsibility. She said the turtle eviction became necessary after the veterinarian responsible for the program resigned and the biologist who held the state permit to deal with sea turtles said she didn’t want to work for Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards.

In a letter to Boca Raton’s human resources department, Crowder, an 11-year city employee who works closely with the non-profit’s personnel, accused the non-profit’s CEO, John Holloway, of “toxic and mentally abusive leadership.” She also appeared likely to get a substantial pay cut, she said in an interview.

In her letter, she said Holloway engaged in “verbal and emotional outbursts towards board members & staff” and said he tried to turn employees against each other. A former Coastal Stewards board member, Rebecca Mott, echoed her concerns. In a letter she provided to Crowder that Crowder gave to the city, Mott said she was “belittled, yelled at, and humiliated” by Holloway for asking a question at a board meeting.

Holloway, in an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday, denied engaging in any “toxic” behavior, saying only that he had asked about rehabilitation costs and other issues that any organization should be able to address. Since Crowder has been a city employee, not an employee of his non-profit group, he said, he never supervised her.

[ RELATED: Release of balloons would be banned under new Florida bill. Here’s why. ]

“I’ve not seen the material that you’re referencing,” he said Wednesday. “I would have no reason to be in an HR meeting with the city of Boca Raton. I’m not one of their employees. Nor was I ever contacted by anyone in Whitney’s chain of command about any issues. So I’m not aware of those things. The last time I was with Whitney Crowder, she had given me a hug and we were on great terms. That was the third week of January. At our board meeting on Jan. 11, she presented me with a plaque thanking me for my leadership and support.”

Crowder acknowledged the plaque and hug but said in an interview Wednesday that was before a “blowup” in their relationship.

Holloway said the sea turtle program would resume, as soon as the center can gear up for it. His members are excited at the possibilities that a nonprofit organization can bring to a rehabilitation program, freed from the constraints under which city employees must operate, he said.

“IT’S NOT GOODBYE TO THE SEA TURTLES...,” he wrote in a newsletter that went out Wednesday. “IT’S SEA YOU SOON!”

“We are aware that currently, there are no sea turtle patients being treated at the facility,” he wrote. “The City worked with FWC to relocate the patients to facilities to ensure the best care. The resident sea turtles, Morgan and Cane, are using this time for a long overdue vacation.”