Behind Boca’s favorite turtle sanctuary: the life of a Marine Conservationist
Tourists and residents alike love to visit Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, primarily to learn more about its famous sea turtles and understand the dangers development and pollution poses to them.
But while droves of visitors admire the enormous turtles, they’re less likely to meet one of the foremost experts behind Gumbo Limbo’s magic: Kirt Rusenko.
Rusenko, 69, has a doctorate in zoology and been a Marine Conservationist at Gumbo Limbo for about 25 years now, making him one of the earliest and longest-serving employees at the popular nature center.
Rusenko was born in Newport, Rhode Island on Jan 26, 1951 and moved to Upstate New York in King Ferry with his single mother when he was a year old. He grew up in Syracuse for most of his childhood, where he lived on a small farm with mainly chickens and ducks.
“I always annoyed the chickens and played with them, which was fun,” said Rusenko. “I liked watching the monster movies back then. My favorite movie was ‘Godzilla’ in black and white. Seeing the scientists handling crazy new creatures was fascinating to me.”
Rusenko then knew that he definitely wanted to become a scientist and be just like one of them in the movie “Godzilla.”
He went on to study at Syracuse University, majoring in biology and psychology. By working as a counselor during his college years, he discovered that he wanted to become a scientist since he preferred working with animals. From there on, his true passion awoke.
Rusenko then proceeded to Atlanta Georgia Tech Graduate School, focusing on studying biodiversity. It was the same year when scientists began to explor Mars. It was 1976, and Rusenko and other scientists were looking for life and a chemical reaction on Mars.
After, he decided to complete his masters at the Medical Center in Syracuse for Biochemistry. He then attended Clemson University in South Carolina, majoring in Zoology, when he received his doctorate.
“Studying at Clemson was way different than living in New York. It was a friendlier atmosphere and a much smaller area,” said Rusenko.
The university had a popular football team at the time. On game weekends, the city of 5,000 people turned into 80,000, which the scientists in Clemson didn’t like since the city was then overpopulated and nobody could get in or out of Clemson, according to Rusenko.
After graduating with his doctorate at Clemson University, he worked as a Research Assistant Professor at the Dermatology Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for five years. It was an academic and very competitive atmosphere, which is why Rusenko started working with chromatography equipment in Rivera Beach, Fla., staying for about two years. Rusenko then volunteered at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center in Juno Beach, Fla.
Rusenko has two children, a daughter and a son. His daughter, Rayna Rusenko, 44, will be graduating with her doctorate at Florida International University this year and works in Japan as a translator, where she translates Japanese transcripts into English and vice versa. His son Joshua Rusenko, 41, works at the accounting firm CPMG in California.
In 1994, Rusenko started working for Quantum Resources at St. Lucie Nuclear Plant in Port St Lucie, Fla., where he helped capturing sea turtles out of canals, of which most of them were green sea turtles. In Dec. 1995, he started working at Gumbo Limbo with his focus also on sea turtles. Rusenko was responsible for the sea turtle program as well as general animal care.
Today, Gumbo Limbo has since extended its center to a sea turtle rehabilitation center. Rusenko is the sea turtle conservation permit holder and monitors inventory, hatchlings, lighting ordinance as well as development services. He also has to approve sea turtle lighting plants, certain spectrums and replacement of fixtures, which recently were applied on Palmetto Park Road and A1A in Boca Raton, Fla.
“Rusenko provides us with a wealth of knowledge and we utilize him as a resource. He always is willing to help and honestly we don’t know what we’ll do once he retires. Rusenko is irreplaceable,” said the Senior Aquarist at Gumbo Limbo Keith Herman, 37, who has been working alongside Rusenko for three years.
While working at Gumbo Limbo, Rusenko was invited to go to Costa Rica and limit coastal development by creating coastal codes. On this trip, he met former President Oscar Arias Sanchez, who received a Nobel Peace Prize for creating peace between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, which were at war before.
Working at the speed of the government and doing lots of protocols isn’t what Rusenko favors. However, he absolutely loves his occupation for the educational focus. As a sea turtle conservationist, he realized that people have a big heart for animals like sea turtles and intend to learn more about protecting them. From sea turtle nesting programs, to awareness programs of straws hurting sea turtles, people seem to care about sea turtles.
“Rusenko is calm, quiet, fair and honest. He has a great respect for people, and he’s everything I would ask for in a supervisor. I learned so much from him and his excellent presentations about lighting and pollution,” said Sea Turtle Conservation Coordinator David Anderson at Gumbo Limbo, who has been working under his supervision for 12 years, which is also 12 sea turtle seasons.
While working for Gumbo Limbo, he also works for the International Dark Sky Association, where he gives lectures about reducing lighting ordinances and pollution. In 2012, he received the Lighting Design Award and in 2013, the Dark Sky Defender Award from the International Dark Sky Association.
