Rescuer tells the stories of sea animals
At first glance, Kim Durham is not your typical college student. But she’s proving that it’s never too late to learn something new.
After nearly 30 years of working on behalf of sea animals — like Northeast sea turtles — Durham is pursuing a master’s degree to help her find better ways to tell stories of the animals she is passionate about saving.
The Long Island native graduated from college in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree and began volunteering for area non-profits. She’s now the New York State Sea Turtle Coordinator and Necropsy Program Coordinator at the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS), which is based in Westhampton Beach, N.Y.
Collaborating with Western Connecticut State University biology professor Dr. Theodora Pinou on several research projects, Durham decided to enroll in WestConn’s M.S. in Integrated Biological Diversity program. She quickly realized that this program would help her do her job better by giving her the platform she needs to educate the public.
“For me, it was really the curriculum and the teachers that drew me to the program,” Durham said. “It gives me the tools I need to get the stories of these turtles out to the public. I can organize and package my research to put forth in a variety of mediums.”
When a sea animal is injured or dies, Durham and her group will examine it to see where changes can be made to help the animals. Vessel strikes and plastic ingestion are some of the common causes of injury to sea turtles, whales or seals. Learning how to best package and share their findings with area boaters, groups and municipalities can help lessen injury to animals and prolong their lives.
Over the years, Durham has been involved with many rescues and incidents with injured animals. Sea turtle injuries often occur during the summer months off the Long Island coast, when they can be easily hit by boats. “These are animals that typically come into our waters late June and they’re drawn here by the food source that is close to shore,” Durham said. “Unfortunately, close to shore are marinas and high vessel traffic.”
Another man-made threat is all the plastic that finds its way into oceans, which can entangle fish or be ingested. “More times than not, we do see a lot of plastic ingestion, which could be secondary to just foraging or food but is very disheartening when we see the plastic in there,” she said.
A common winter issue that affects sea turtles is cold-stunning: turtles do not migrate to warmer waters in winter, so if they spend too much time in cold water, they run the risk of drowning.
In December, when a group of 20 cold-stunned turtles were found off Cape Cod, Durham and her team were called. The turtles were flown from Cape Cod to Westhampton Beach by volunteers from the rescue non-profit, Turtles Fly Too, and rehabilitated at AMSEAS.
“I kind of tell people the work that I do is completing the story of an animal,” Durham said. “Every animal, I feel, has a story to tell, whether it’s how they were making their life or what kind of interactions they had with humans, both positive and negative. I want to tell their stories and get that information out to the public and legislators. I want to make people care in a way that will make a difference for these turtles.”
Despite the long commute when she has to come to the WestConn campus, Durham said the master’s program is absolutely worth the time it takes to complete.
“I have been able to get what I wanted to get out of the program,” Durham said. “I really find that this program is a good way for students like myself. I am an older student, I have been in the profession for some time, but this particular program is very flexible. I certainly encourage individuals who think that ‘I missed my time to go back to school’ that that is not necessarily the case. The opportunities are still there.”