Cold-stunned turtles flown to Corpus Christi for help at the Texas State Aquarium
By Eran Hami
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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (KRIS) — On Friday evening, two trucks carrying sea turtles arrived at the Port of Corpus Christi Center for Wildlife Rescue at the Texas State Aquarium. “This afternoon, we brought in 18 endangered Kemps Ridley Sea Turtles from the Boston, Mass., Cape Cod area to the Wildlife Rescue Center at the aquarium to make sure that we can warm them up. They were trapped in a cold-stunning event similar to what we see here periodically in Texas,” Jesse Gilbert, president and CEO of the Texas State Aquarium, said.
From the sea to the sky.
These 18 turtles were rescued within the last week. On Friday, they took a flight to Corpus Christi. Gilbert said the Wildlife Rescue Center is the optimal place for these turtles to get the best care, which is at the heart of the aquarium’s mission.
The turtles have been exposed to the cold for a couple of months in the Northeast. Gilbert said they came in with pneumonia and infections in their lungs.
“They look alert, which is good,” Gilbert said. “The biggest challenge now is getting them to eat. So, they need to get nutrition to recover, to heal. So, over the next three to four days, maybe even a week or so, our teams here at the aquarium will be working diligently to get them to start eating.”
After arriving at the Wildlife Rescue Center, the turtles began getting processed. That includes taking measurements, weighing them and a blood draw. Then they hit the pool, where their breathing is monitored.
Gilbert said this is the third or fourth-time animals have come in from Massachusetts. Animals have come in from across Texas and other states as well, showing the prominence of the work being done at the Wildlife Rescue Center.
“That’s why we built the Wildlife Rescue Center,” Gilbert said. This opened about a year and a half ago and this program is built to handle overflow from other states as well as big Texas events. We can hold about three to four thousand sea turtles at one time at the aquarium.”
The aquarium takes part in collaborating with several organizations such as NOAA Fisheries and Turtles Fly Too to coordinate saving turtles and getting them rehabilitated.
Gilbert said the turtles will undergo rehabilitation for the next few months. Once they are back to normal, they’ll be released back into the wild sometime in the Spring.
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