This is our highest-level adoption program. For $5,000, adopters will adopt a nesting loggerhead female turtle "for life" from our 10-year dataset. The turtles selected for this program will have a strong record of nesting on Sanibel, ensuring they have a rich history on the island and are likely to return, typically every two to three years.
Adopt-a-Lifetime is intended to be a one-time donation that allows you to symbolically adopt a turtle “forever,” and only one nesting female turtle will be assigned to each adoptee. Due to the variability in the number of eligible nesting turtles each season, there are a limited number of sea turtle individuals available for this program. Please email sweber@sccf.org to pledge your interest in adoption, and our team will reach out to you directly once a turtle is available.
This special adoption program directly supports SCCF's sea turtle research and monitoring.
What You'll Receive
- Ability to rename your turtle
- An adoption certificate with her new name and an exclusive photo
- A customized hat with the last 6 digits of her PIT tag number
- A personalized letter that includes details of her lifetime history, including when she was first tagged, which years she has been documented on Sanibel, and the number of hatchlings produced from every nest she has laid throughout her history on the island
- In-depth nesting summaries each season your turtle returns to Sanibel, along with an updated photo
How It Works
Nesting female turtles will only be eligible for lifetime "adoption" once they are encountered nesting for their third consecutive season on Sanibel, to ensure they have a rich nesting history and a high probability that they will return to nest. If you are interested in becoming a lifetime adopter, you will join our waitlist. Once an individual is eligible (i.e., encountered during the 2025 season for her third season), we will reach out to the members on the waitlist to assign eligible turtles to adopters on a first-come, first-served basis.