Sea Turtles Are Being Loaded Into Cars To Protect Them From The Winter Storm
Humans aren’t the only ones feeling the chill as Texas continues to suffer from the effects of this year’s winter vortex.
Countless sea turtles have been stunned by the life-threatening cold along the shore, but they haven’t gone unnoticed.
Help is on the way for them.
Volunteers from Sea Turtle, Inc. on South Padre Island have been working diligently over the last several days to preserve as many turtles as possible.
Because turtles are cold-blooded and unable to adjust their internal temperature, the cold has rendered them nearly motionless. They are at great risk of drowning since they are unable to swim or move appropriately.
Faced with the possibility of a disaster, volunteers have been searching the coastline for turtles and loading them into their trucks to transport them to safety.
My mom is retired, & she spends her winters volunteering at a sea turtle rescue center in south Texas. The cold snap is stunning the local turtles & they’re doing a lot of rescues. She sent me this photo today of the back of her Subaru. It’s *literally* turtles all the way down. pic.twitter.com/xaDRNjLDoQ
— Lara (@lara_hand) February 15, 2021
The South Padre Island Convention Centre and Visitors Bureau has become a temporary home for hundreds of these rescued turtles, with over 3,500 having been accommodated thus far.
And the figure continues to rise by the hour.
Here’s a video from the rescue facility that shows turtles stretching as far as the eye can see, receiving some much-needed warmth and strength:
The view at the conference center is bizarre, yet every shell in sight represents a life that has been saved.