WHERE'S DUNKIN?

Doug Kaufman

Dunkin, the Green Sea Turtle

Dunkin is our beloved sea turtle, a favorite of local schoolchildren and a highlight for visitors to the St. Croix Aquarium when we were located in downtown Christiansted.

Named after famous Crucian NBA star Tim Duncan, the St. Croix Aquarium waited for many years for the opportunity to have a non-releasable sea turtle to display in our Marine Education Center. Our juvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas) came to the Aquarium in December 1998, when he was a hatchling. Dunkin did not emerge successfully from his nest with his siblings. He was found buried in the sand by National Park Rangers and biologists monitoring the nests. Since Dunkin would not haved survived without human intervention, he found a home as a marine educator at the St. Croix Aquarium.

(Green sea turtles are a federally protected endangered species. The St. Croix Aquarium has special federal status for harboring Dunkin for educational purposes. Dunkin has no natural survival skills and would not survive in the wild. It is a federal crime to collect turtles or turtle eggs or to disturb a turtle nesting area. If you find an animal in distress, call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - on St. Croix the number is 773-4554.)

When the St. Croix Aquarium's Christiansted location closed its doors in August 2002, Dunkin's friends with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service flew him via seaplane to his new temporary home at the Turtle Pool at Coral World in neighboring St. Thomas. (Read an article about his trip, with pictures, here.)

Dunkin is waiting to come home to St. Croix! The St. Croix Aquarium is currently seeking to create a permanent home on St. Croix with a large oceanwater observation tank for Dunkin and other rescued sea turtles in need of rehabilitation.

You can help bring Dunkin home by making a donation to the St. Croix Aquarium, either using your credit card online (click on the Helping.org button at left) or by mailing your donation to the St. Croix Aquarium at: 4005 Hermon Hill, Christiansted VI 00820-4430.

•  Sea turtles are globally endangered and shouldn't be touched or harassed in any way. 

If you would like to see sea turtles up close in the Caribbean, contact the EarthWatch volunteer program. Here on St. Croix, call (340)690-9452. Through this and similar sea turtle research programs, you can volunteer to spend an evening helping park rangers and scientists record information about these animals when they come up onto the shore at night during nesting season. 

For updated news on our search for a new home for the St. Croix Aquarium, and ways you can help, please visit the links on our site or contact us via email at .

All content on this website © Copyright St. Croix Aquarium 2002-2003 and/or listed authors, and used with permission.

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