Volunteers Rescue Thousands of Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles From Freezing Texas Waters
As Texans battle with freezing temperatures and lack of power, animal protection groups and volunteers have come together to help warm up the turtles and save their lives.
Hundreds of rescued cold-stunned sea turtles lay motionless as their body temperatures regain heat. Credit: Sea Turtle, Inc
As Texas continues to battle Arctic conditions and power outages, volunteers are helping to deliver emergency supplies like food and water to those in need.
Among the many heroic volunteers, are those helping to rescue the wildlife who have also suffered from the deadly conditions. In particular, the state’s sea turtles face hypothermic shock and becoming ‘cold-stunned’ in the freezing waters. When cold-stunned, the turtles are unable to move at all, and it can take the creatures days to properly recover.
That’s led animal protection groups and volunteers to rescue of thousands of sea turtles from Texas waters, so that the turtles can warm up indoors and stay safe as they recover.
Credit: Sea Turtle, Inc
One conservation group alone has already rescued over 4,000 turtles. Sea Turtle Inc told CBS News that they had reached full capacity at their facility in South Padre Island.
Video of the facility posted on social media, shows the incredible amount of turtles, who will remain mostly motionless until their body temperatures start to warm up.
One rescuer explained that one of the turtles was over 100 years old, and weighed approximately 350 pounds.
You can help support the ongoing turtle rescue in Texas by visiting the website of Sea Turtle, Inc.
Help Save Wildlife
Bears in the U.S. are being killed for the bear bile trade. We must stop this.
More stories:
Species Unite
A collection of stories of those who fight the good fight on behalf of animals.
Hope was last seen traveling with another critically endangered Mexican gray wolf, whose whereabouts remain unknown.