Last year during the cold weather many cold-stunned turtles were rescued but will it be different this year since we have had the hottest temperatures on record?
According to Doctor Donna Shaver when temperatures have been extremely hot usually it means they could expect more cold-stunned turtles.
Padre Island National Seashore is offering the public free virtual training sessions on how to properly find, recover, and document cold-stunned sea turtles Donna Shaver the Texas Coordinator of the Sea Turtle Salvage Center said when water temperatures get below 50 degrees the turtles become motionless.
"Time is critical, you need to be able to find these cold-stunned turtles quickly bring them into one of the centers where they could be documented and then brought to rehabilitation gradually warmed rehabilitated then they could be repatriated into our Texas waters," she said.
Shaver added that anyone is qualified to volunteer—the more people the better.
"We need all sorts of talents, from people who help with measuring to people who like to drive, to people who like to answer the phone and the radio, people who sweep or do loads of laundry we will take you,' she added.
Even though they don't have a specific number needed of volunteers some days could be busier than others.
"It's very episodic there is like two or three days when they come in loads of them lots of work then it's done, other winters it just continues and continues and continues through the whole winter," Shaver said.
To register, people should send an email stating their name and the date they want to attend to Martha_Villalba-Guerra@nps.gov
The lessons will be held virtually on October 26 and October 28th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
