KGBT (Harlingen, Texas) 17 January 07 Expert: Cold Weather Deadly To Sea Turtles
Under the rays of a warm heating lamp, the green sea turtles were slowing beginning to swim around again in some tank after being discovered nearly lifeless.
"Sea turtles are cold-blooded. So, this severe cold snap has caused turtles to strand because they are in a situation of hypothermia," said Jeff George, a curator at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center on South Padre Island.
George said that some turtles that didn't make it out into the warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico ended up trapped in the choppy waters of the bay which are much colder for them.
"The Gulf is in the low 60s and the turtles are able to migrate to deeper water or warmer water," George said. "The bay however is such a shallow body of water that the temperature has dropped very quickly and very dramatically."
The waters in the bay dipped down into the low 50s Wednesday, which George said was too cold for the animals them to handle, causing them to end up almost comatose along the shore.
"The water in the bay is at 53 degrees," he said. "If the sustained temperatures for the next 24 hours, it could drop into the 40s and that becomes very life threatening for the turtles."
George said that someone finds a turtle in the bay or along the shore, the worst thing that they could do to try and help it would be to put it back in the water.
"Well, their metabolism is shut down and a turtle could easily drown," he said.
If in the next couple of weeks the waters warm up, the rescued sea turtles are expected to be released back into the Gulf of Mexico.
George recommended that anyone who finds a stranded sea turtle either call wildlife officials or the Sea Turtle Rescue Center.
If you'd like to help the Sea Turtle Rescue Center, give them a call at (956) 761-4511.
The Center is in need of volunteers, monetary donations and blankets that they use to cover up the tanks the turtles swim in.
Expert: Cold Weather Deadly To Sea Turtles