Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons’ Karen Testa rehabs reptiles

Karen Testa’s patients may move at a snail’s pace or slower, but she is pressed to find any downtime at Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons, a Jamesport nonprofit she founded in 2012.

The nonprofit is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of sick and injured turtles that are native to New York State. It cares for about 150 turtles annually, including pets whose owners can no longer take care of them.

Testa’s mission in life was established at an early age during a trip to her grandmother’s house in suburban Massachusetts. She was walking with her father when he pointed out a turtle to his 4-year-old daughter. It had three legs.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, that poor thing,’ ” said Testa, 53, of Jamesport. “I was just a little kid, but I felt so, so sorry for this poor animal. I didn’t know what to do, but it was so sad. I couldn’t deal with it.”

The turtle’s struggle helped inspire her love of the shelled reptiles. She has spent much of her life caring for them by volunteering at shelters. Before founding her nonprofit, she volunteered at Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons, in Hampton Bays.

The need for Turtle Rescue was almost immediately evident.

“There is so much bulldozing going on, and there is a lot of traffic,” Testa said. “These factors have hurt turtle life on Long Island. We find many that get hit by cars. We also have many turtles that are displaced because of development. It’s difficult for them.”

Crowded roads, development and owners who give up their pets have led to a full house of about 50 turtles at 111 Manor Lane. The home, known as Turtle Manor, has an exam room, intensive care unit, hospital ward that includes a tub for each turtle, and a 1-acre sanctuary with man-made ponds where turtles can live in a natural habitat. Testa said the sanctuary is used mostly by permanently disabled turtles that will, in all likelihood, need to live out their lives at the residence.

The nearly century-old farmhouse where Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons is based was purchased by Testa’s boyfriend, Sal Caliguri, to house the nonprofit. He owns two businesses, including St. James-based Sal’s Auto Body. Caliguri, 65, said the home was in great shape when he bought it, so other than helping with small details, there wasn’t much he had to do beyond support the cause financially. The purchase was good timing.

“No sooner did I buy that property than the turtles started coming,” he said.

Caliguri said he visits Turtle Rescue when he can, about every few weeks, and is thankful he can help Testa — who sometimes stays at the house to care for the turtles — and the animals she loves.

“It’s been nice for me, because I haven’t had as many opportunities to give back, and this let me give back,” Caliguri said.

Longtime passion

Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons is funded with charitable contributions. It takes about $76,000 annually to run the organization, including $24,000 for rent, $9,000 in taxes and another $7,200 for medical supplies.

Testa spends as much as five nights per week at the Turtle Rescue, because she often has to take care of the turtles in critical condition. She also gets help from Erica Kannry, 23, of Shirley, Norma McCook, 59, of Riverhead, Lindsey Rohrbach, 32, of Mastic Beach, Joni Friedman, 47, of New Suffolk, Staci Earl, 36 of Ridge and Adrienne Gillespie, 31, of Sayville. Testa said they all make the rounds, making sure turtles are fed and have enough water. They also give the turtles medicine when necessary. Veterinarians will also come by the Jamesport location when they’re needed.

Andrew Sabin, 70, of Amagansett, is a top supporter of the organization and has donated about $14,000 to the nonprofit. Sabin, who is also the founder of the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton, said turtles are one of his longtime passions.

Sabin recently also spent $60,000 on a “retirement home” for rescued turtles that are incapable of living in the wild. He said a caretaker feeds the animals there, which is part of his 26-acre property in East Hampton.

“I applaud the cause, and I applaud Karen’s work,” Sabin said. “It’s a labor of love; she is not going to make a living doing this. But it’s very needed, because of the habitat destruction that is taking place, as well as the number of people who decide turtles are too much work and don’t want to take care of them anymore.”

Testa is at Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons every day of the week, for about 10 to 12 hours each day, and said the phone is always ringing. One call she got last December came from officials with the Department of Environmental Conservation. A drug investigation had led Suffolk County police to a collection of dead and poorly treated animals at a home in Bohemia. Along with hundreds of deer hides and a freezer full of waterfowl carcasses were a dozen sick snapping turtles living in muddy water.

“The DEC called and said if someone can’t take them they would have to, at some point, euthanize them,” Testa said. “I would have to take them in. Twelve of them. It was terrifying. It was the worst day of my life.”

Testa asked for and received help from other turtle rescue organizations throughout New York State, but she held on to one snapping turtle, which struggled with severe dehydration, a respiratory infection and fungal lacerations. For nearly six months, the Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons nursed the reptile back to health by injecting her with vitamins and electrolytes.

“It’s not easy to inject a snapping turtle,” Testa said. “They’re going to defend themselves.”

The turtle, named “Ten” because all the snapping turtles were named and it was the tenth one, also needed topical creams, so Testa and her team drydocked her for hours every day during its recovery so the creams were effective. Drydocking allows the turtle to dry out, and the oxygen kills any fungus.

Testa was also called in to help when about 200 diamondback terrapins washed ashore last spring in Peconic Bay. She and her volunteers combed the beach, boxed about 75 of them and shipped them for necropsy testing at Cornell University in upstate Ithaca. Early research points toward marine biotoxin poisoning, but tests are ongoing.

“We need answers so we can understand why it happened,” Testa said.

Habitat threats

Dr. Robert Pisciotta, a veterinarian and owner of North Fork Animal Hospital in Southold, said he agrees that development has put turtles in danger. He said automobiles and lawn mowers have become their greatest predators, especially for eastern box turtles, which generally live in the woods.

Pisciotta, 52, of Westhampton Beach, said the most common procedures are amputations and repairing wounds.

He has visited Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons as needed, but he said the trips to Jamesport are less frequent now. He, along with Dr. Jonathan Mehlrose of the Veterinary Medical Center of Long Island in West Islip, have spent many hours helping Testa when needed without charging for their services. Another veterinarian, Dr. Jonathan Turetsky, of the Veterinary Clinic and Hospital of East Hampton, has also helped free of charge. 

“Karen is so good at what she does, that unless it’s a surgical issue, she has it under control,” Pisciotta said. “We are so lucky to have her out here. Her facilities are immaculate. She does a fantastic job. I’m pretty sure a lot of the turtles are disappointed when they need to go back out into the wild.”

Pisciotta might be right about that. Testa recalls the day last spring when she returned to Carmans River to release the snapping turtle injured in Bohemia that she nursed back to health. Turtles are always returned near the places where they were found.

“They know where they are; that’s where they were hatched and they’re familiar with their surroundings,” Testa said. “It’s for survival. If you relocate them, you don’t know if the environment around them has everything they need. It could be too dry or too wet.”

Testa placed the snapper on the ground and it walked off.

At one point, Ten craned her neck and looked back at Testa, perhaps to say thank you.

“And I cried,” Testa said.

Sign me up

Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons is looking for helpers, especially transport volunteers, who help bring the turtles to Jamesport.

“We rely on people to bring the turtles to us, or at least close to us,” Testa said. “Let’s say we get a call from Montauk. In the summertime that is a two-hour trip from where I am. That’s impossible.”

Testa said financial donations are also a huge help, because the cost of doing business on Long Island is not cheap. She said the electric bill averages about $1,000 per month.

“During the winter, we have to simulate summer so the turtles don’t go into hibernation,” she said. “So we need to keep it at 80 degrees in January. That leads to an expensive bill.”

For more information, contact the group’s hotline at 631-779-3737 or visit turtlerescueofthehamptons.org

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