CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — February 2021: a historic month in Texas and a deadly month for Texans and wildlife.
"You remember, there was no power, there was no water, all the roads were shut down, there was ice on bridges, so it was really difficult to mobilize and rescue as many turtles as we could," said Alicia Walker, the Program Coordinator of Amos Rehabilitation Keep (ARK).
Between many wildlife organizations, like the ARK, PINS, the Texas State Aquarium the Texas Sealife Center and many more, about 13,000 cold stunned turtles were rescued from the Texas gulf.
"At one point, we probably had 500 turtles here, I would say, if I had to guess," said Amanda Terry, the Director of the Rehabilitation of Texas Sealife Center.
Out of the 13,000, only 4,500 were released and about 9,000 died.
"Dehydration, exposure to the elements, predacious either with the coyotes eating them alive or the birds pecking at the eyes and they bleed out, which is really grizzly. It's even disturbing for some our personnel that go out on search and rescue efforts," said Donna Shaver, a Sea Turtle Biologist with the Padre Island National Seashore.
With another arctic blast on its way, experts are preparing for another round of cold stunned sea turtles.
"All our tubs are lined up and all our paperwork ready to get filled out, so we'll know when they start or when they should start to come in and then we'll start our patrol," Terry added.
Shaver goes step-by-step on what PINS plans are.
"First, we go out by foot. It's cheaper and logistically easier to deploy, so we'll go out and search. If we start to find a lot by foot, then we'll get the boats out and it will be all hands on deck," said Shaver.
While community volunteers are not being called on just yet, experts warn--if you are out and see a stunned turtle in need, do not try to warm it up yourself.
"Sometimes, people will try to help the turtle by blasting their heater on it and that could actually be pretty damaging. We gradually warm them up," Walker added.
They ask that you call 1-866-TURTLE-5.
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