How a lifelong love of turtles led a dentist to put down her drill

April Nason cares a lot about sea turtles and she wants you to care about them, too.

Originally from Saint John,Nasonleft dentistrybehindlast year to work as the education and outreach co-ordinator for the Canadian Sea Turtle Network in Halifax.

"They have a lot of personality and they're super cute," Nason told Information Morning Saint John.

She is giving several presentations this weekend in Saint Andrews to celebrate World Sea Turtle Day, which is held every year on June 16.

Nason was an animal lover growing up, but was also "allergic to everything," and after her parents tired of her tears over fish that frequently died, they brought home two red-eared slider turtles.

She said her parents expected the pairto last six months, but they lived for 23 years.

"And right around when we got turtles at the age of 6, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also came out and became a big thing," said Nason. "And when your name is April, and you have pet turtles, it kind of seals you in as the turtle girl."

April is the name of a friend of theturtle brothersin the popular franchise.

WATCH | April Nason on her love of turtles and sea-change in her career:

Childhood love leads dentist back to the sea and out of her shell

1 year ago

Duration 1:36

For the love of loggerheads and leatherbacks: April Nason gave up a career in dentistry to return to her passion.

When it was time for university, Nason said she loved marine biology, but she also was interested in health care.

She started a bachelor's degree in marine biology, but didn't think she would enjoy the work, so she chose dental school.

While working as a dentist, she decided to pursue a master's degree, and then last year, she decided to leave her dental practice and focus on sea turtles full time.

Nason said people who knew her well said it was about time, but when she told her patients, many were shocked.

"What's the connection between dentistry and sea turtles? It's like, none. It's just me," she said.

"Sea turtles don't have teeth, so I like to joke that I have tried to get away from teeth as much as possible and choose an animal that has no teeth whatsoever."

Sea turtles in Atlantic Canada?

Nason is passionate about her job educating the public about sea turtles, especially since she said many don't realize that we have themin Atlantic Canada. They do not appear on our beaches that is, unless they're in trouble.

"Leatherbacks are the main type of sea turtle that we have in numbers that come into Atlantic Canada," said Nason. "These guys mostly come up the south shore [of Nova Scotia]."

The leatherbackstravelto feast on the area'splentiful jellyfish, she said.

And they're also very large.According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Atlantic leatherback sea turtle weighs an average of400 kilograms.

Nason said three other kinds of sea turtles the loggerhead, Kemp's ridley and the green also appear in Atlantic Canadian waters, but they tend to stick to the Gulf Stream.

"They usually actually don't get close to shore in the fallas they're starting to migrate back down south," she saidof the three hard-shell species.

"Sometimes the juveniles will get stuck into a warm patch of water, which then will start to dissipate and they can then get cold-stunned, which is basically hypothermia for turtles. If they get cold-stunned, they basically go where the waves take them."

She said cold-stunned turtles are sometimes found washed up on the shores of the Bay of Fundy inNew Brunswick or Nova Scotiain the fall, so the Canadian Sea Turtle Network asks residents to walk down their local beaches from November to January, if possible, to keep an eye out for them.

Nason admits she doesn't know if she will stay with sea turtles forever, but it's where she followed her heart.

"Life is too short to do boring things, and there are so many cool opportunities in this world just to do one thing," she said.