Terry Norton, DVM, Diplomate ACZM
Dr. Norton has been the Director and Veterinarian for the Jekyll Island Authority’s Georgia Sea Turtle Center for 13 years. He earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in 1986 and completed a residency in Zoo and Wildlife Medicine at the University of Florida in 1989. He became a Diplomate in the American College of Zoological Medicine in 1992.
He has provided veterinary care for White Oak Conservation Center, Riverbanks Zoo, North Carolina State Zoo, Turtle Survival Center, and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s St. Catherines Island Wildlife Survival Center. He developed and implemented the Georgia Wildlife Health Program, which has evaluated the health of many state and federally listed species including sea turtles, alligator snapping turtles, diamondback terrapins, Barbour’s map turtles, gopher tortoises, box turtles, eastern indigo snakes, eastern diamondback and canebrake rattlesnakes, eastern king snakes, American alligators, American oystercatchers, brown pelicans and marine mammals. He continues to work closely with the Georgia Department of Natural Resource marine mammal stranding response. He is the lead veterinarian for the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida and is the veterinarian for St. Catherines Island Foundation wildlife programs. He works closely with the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST). He is Adjunct Professor at the University of Georgia, University of Florida, North Carolina State University, Lincoln Memorial and Tufts University Cummings Colleges of Veterinary Medicine.
Dr. Norton is the Vice President of the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network and on the board for the Hawai’i Marine Animal Response. He has published numerous articles for referred journals and book chapters. He was most recently co-editor of the book entitled Sea Turtle Health and Rehabilitation. He is a graduate of the 2009 Institute of Georgia Environmental Leadership (IGEL) program. He was the Chair of the Conservation Planning Committee for Jekyll Island. Dr. Norton has worked around the world on several projects including Indonesia for the Bali mynah reintroduction project, Madagascar for lemur health assessments, the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico for Flamingo health related work, Panama for Capuchin monkey and sea turtle health assessments, several Caribbean countries for avian and sea turtle health related work, and most recently Costa Rica for sea turtle and other wildlife conservation efforts. He was recently honored by the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians with the Emil Dolensik Award and Gopher Tortoise Council Distinguished Service Award.
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