Every Winter, when temperatures drop in the Coastal Bend, we typically see an influx of cold-stunned sea turtles being rehabilitated here in the Coastal Bend. Temperatures are dropping this week, but the President and CEO of the Texas State Aquarium says the turtles should not be too affected by this week's colder weather.
“We had a warm enough winter where there’s some heat capacity in the upper Laguna Madre so I don’t anticipate seeing certainly a lot of turtles. If we do some, it’s probably going to be very, very few of them," Jesse Gilbert, the President and CEO of the Texas State Aquarium, said.
Last winter, the Texas State Aquarium rehabilitated about 300 cold stunned sea turtles. Gilbert does not expect the numbers during this cold event to be anywhere near last year's.
“It’s something to definitely be mindful of. We’re watching, kind of, the model and the temperatures in the upper Laguna Madre right now, and it looks like Corpus Christi is gonna be spared. The Coastal Bend is probably going to be okay," Gilbert said.
Gilbert believes that because of how warm the winter has been so far, the turtles should have some stored heat in the upper Laguna Madre that they can use to keep warm during the colder temperatures this week.
While local sea life may be spared this time around, Gilbert said that the Texas State Aquarium is prepared to assist with cold-stunned turtles from other parts of the state and country.
“What we are watching for this week are animals North of Corpus Christi, so if we see animals in the Matagorda Bay area up to the Galveston Bay area, the aquarium is ready to bring those animals into Corpus Christi and warm them up just with the capacity here at the rescue center," Gilbert said.
The Texas State Aquarium started making preparations for potential cold stunned sea turtles last week.
“We’ve reached out to our partners at the federal agencies as well as Texas Parks and Wildlife. We’ve actually secured trucks in case we needed to move a large number of animals back to Corpus Christi," Gilbert said.
The turtle rehabilitation room at the Texas State Aquarium Rescue Center is anything but empty right now.
“Right now we’re holding Kemp’s Ridley’s that came in from the Boston area. So, they had a cold stunning event up in the Cape Cod area late in 2024. And so we brought in 18 of those animals into Corpus Christi about two or three weeks ago," Gilbert said.
The Texas State Aquarium has the capacity to rehabilitate thousands of sea turtles. However, Gilbert does not forsee an event that large happening this year. But they are prepared to help, just in case.
If you do see a turtle on the beach that may be cold stunned, professionals advise you not to touch it.
“Call 1-866-TURTLE-5. And that will give you a prompt to tell where you’ve found that turtle," Gilbert said.
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