On February 14, 2021, there was a Valentine’s Day winter storm in Texas that created a ‘cold-stun’ event which led to the largest sea turtle rescue in history. Sea turtles are cold-blooded creatures, and an endangered species that depends on water temperatures to regulate their body temperature. When the water falls below 50F degrees, they become catatonic, they can’t swim and eventually float to the surface. This event caused water temperatures in the 20s.
We spoke to John at Sea Turtle, Inc., who was there that day and helped rescue thousands of sea turtles. John and the rest of the volunteers from all over the area headed out into the frigid waters of the Gulf Coast to save the turtles who were at risk of dying.
The volunteers included not just the employees of Sea Turtle, Inc., but fishermen, townsfolk, scientists, veterinarians (top Sea Turtle vet saw was what coming and drove from Florida to head up the rescue), SpaceX, and oil spill recovery companies. During the storm 12,155 cold-stunned turtles were recorded on the lower Texas coast. Of those, 5,300 were rescued by Sea Turtle, Inc. and this army of volunteers.
What ended up happening is that word of mouth spread throughout the community and hundreds of volunteers brought their boats into the water, walked the beaches, and came to help at Sea Turtle, Inc. There were so many turtles that the city opened the convention centre next door, which had no power like the rest of the area. Soon its floor space was packed with turtles in blue plastic kiddie pools, turtles in hastily-built wooden corrals, and turtles laid out on black plastic in rows flipper-to-flipper. SpaceX donated a generator to help warm up the facility. They also rented vans to help transport the turtles from shore to the centre.
You can imagine as the turtles warmed up and started moving around and pooping (cause that is what they do when they warm up) it became a bit chaotic and ‘messy’. Once the turtles were well enough to go back out to sea, fishing boats and oil recovery ships were used to release them back into their natural habitat.
The Sea Turtle, Inc. sanctuary is a wonderful place that is not only educational, but also the hospital for these native turtles.
There are videos of the rescue and eventual release on YouTube.
