An aquarium in Texas has been rehabilitating hundreds of turtles while a historic cold wave sweeps across Texas.
The Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi initiated a large-scale response aimed at preserving sea turtle species that will be impacted by the freezing weather. The aquarium's Port Corpus Christi Center for Wildlife Rescue is one of the largest rescue centers for sea turtles in the United States, with the capacity to save thousands of turtles.
The rescue center opened in 2023 and has rehabilitated hundreds of turtles since – and is preparing to help even more this winter.
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The Texas State Aquarium told Fox News Digital that it rehabilitated over 320 turtles last week — and has been preparing for another freeze.
While the turtles living in the aquarium will remain warm thanks to heaters, thousands of wild turtles in the Gulf of Mexico are at risk of cold-stunning.
In cold-stunning, turtles and other marine reptiles become weak and unconscious after being exposed to cold water for too long.
They are unable to regulate their body temperatures as mammals can.
Texas Parks and Wildlife uses boats to monitor the waters to see where turtles appear stunned. Rescue teams are then dispatched to take them to warmer waters.
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The hundreds of impacted wild turtles will be moved to the emergency response pools after being rescued in the wild, the organizations indicated.
Texas State Aquarium CEO Jesse Gilbert told Fox News Digital that cold-stunning generally happens when the water reaches 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
"The turtles appear dead, basically," Gilbert said.
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A Michigan native, Gilbert said that this past Monday night had the coldest weather he had ever seen while in Corpus Christi.
Calling it a "Texas-sized problem," he said he expected hundreds of cold-stunned turtles to show up at the aquarium.
"The aquarium has proactively set up large emergency response pools, specifically designed to accommodate a significant number of potential cold-stunned sea turtles," officials stated in a recent press release.
"These pools are not only spacious but are also equipped with heaters that have been rigorously tested to ensure full operational functionality."
The aquarium has admitted 8,700 animals and reptiles since 1995, and has released over 4,000.
A significant portion of them – 2,855 – were endangered species.
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