By KREIG KOHL
Special to the PRESS
Monday, July 31, saw Sea Turtle Inc. and South Padre Island as a whole say goodbye to one of its most beloved citizens, Allison the one flippered sea turtle. Allison was one of the permanent resident sea turtles at Sea Turtle Inc., who had been at the facility for 18 years.
Speaking with Wendy Knight, CEO of Sea Turtle Inc., about how Allison came to be at the facility she said, “Allison stranded on the island back in June of 2005. She had been attacked by some kind of predator and she could fit in the palm of your hand at that point…three of her four flippers were gone.” After a few rounds of surgeries, Allison found herself recovered from the harrowing attack.
“We quickly realized as an organization that we had a turtle that couldn’t do turtle things like swim.” Knight continued. “Turtles can live without one flipper but three is just unheard of.” It was in 2009 that an intern, Tom Wilson, began working on a way for Allison to swim. “Fast forward up until this day and we’ve had seven different versions of that prosthetic developed over time, thanks to engineers, dentists, plastic surgeons, interns and volunteers, that have learned and moved with technology and we’ve constantly improved her prosthetic to the current model that was made of titanium and was manufactured by an engineer here on site.”
Allison was a world-renowned sea turtle and had a vibrant showing outside of the Island and Sea Turtle Inc.
“Allison has been featured on People Magazine. She’s been on the Today Show. She’s been on discovery channel. It was groundbreaking work that really happened out of grit and manual work by the organization and our volunteers, because from a funding standpoint, we didn’t have the funds to do anything else other than apply our own skills and our own passions to what she needed,” said Knight.
Another place where Allison shined was in disability and special needs programs hosted by Sea Turtle Inc.
“She just was a really meaningful part of millions and millions of people,” said Knight.
The onset of Allison’s passing was quick but not entirely unexpected. With her condition, Allison had always been affected by digestive and buoyancy issues.
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