Feb 19, 2021, 02:12 am
Volunteers have been rescuing thousands of cold-stunned sea turtles from the shores of the US state of Texas as a deadly cold wave in the region continues to cause power outages and water shortages.
About 4,700 sea turtles have been brought to a convention center on South Padre Island since Monday, after the creatures, unaccustomed to the dramatic drop in temperature, washed ashore.
Wendy Knight, the executive director of research and conservation center Sea Turtle Inc called the volume of distressed turtles “an unprecedented event”.
She told Reuters news agency that a normal winter season sees only between 100 and 500 sea turtles wash up on shore.
Ed Caum, executive director of the South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Associated Press it was unclear how long the turtles would need to stay at the convention center, as another approaching cold front means it could be days before temperatures are warm enough to return them.
Video posted by Caum showed volunteers unloading turtles from trucks onto trolleys, and thousands of turtles filling nearly all of the floor space in the convention center.
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Volunteers on South Padre weren’t the only ones rescuing turtles from the cold.
On Wednesday, the Texas Game Warden’s office tweeted that it had rescued 141 turtles from the Brownsville Ship Channel and “surrounding bays” in the state’s southern tip of Cameron County.
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/18...-us-freeze
About 4,700 sea turtles have been brought to a convention center on South Padre Island since Monday, after the creatures, unaccustomed to the dramatic drop in temperature, washed ashore.
Wendy Knight, the executive director of research and conservation center Sea Turtle Inc called the volume of distressed turtles “an unprecedented event”.
She told Reuters news agency that a normal winter season sees only between 100 and 500 sea turtles wash up on shore.
Ed Caum, executive director of the South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Associated Press it was unclear how long the turtles would need to stay at the convention center, as another approaching cold front means it could be days before temperatures are warm enough to return them.
Quote:“We’re trying to do the best we can to save as many turtles as possible,” he said, adding that power had been restored to the convention center on Wednesday.
Video posted by Caum showed volunteers unloading turtles from trucks onto trolleys, and thousands of turtles filling nearly all of the floor space in the convention center.
Volunteers on South Padre weren’t the only ones rescuing turtles from the cold.
On Wednesday, the Texas Game Warden’s office tweeted that it had rescued 141 turtles from the Brownsville Ship Channel and “surrounding bays” in the state’s southern tip of Cameron County.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/18...-us-freeze