Volunteers In Texas Are Saving Thousands Of Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles From The Storm

[demmiblue]

Volunteers in coastal Texas have rescued thousands of sea turtles from frigid waters and shores during the historic winter storm and are working creatively to house them as much of the region remains without power.

Sea Turtle, Inc., a nonprofit education, rehabilitation and conservation organization in South Padre Island, Texas, has taken in nearly 4,500 sea turtles since Sunday, according to Executive Director Wendy Knight. She told NPR that local volunteers have been retrieving the turtles by boat and on foot and that the organization has been able to accommodate them with assistance from the community, including from the local government and SpaceX, which has a launch site nearby.

"The love and support of people who just want to help things that can't help themselves is overwhelming," Knight said.

As of Wednesday morning, Knight said, the floor of Sea Turtle, Inc.'s facility was covered in bins containing some 500 rescues. The city's Convention and Visitors Bureau donated the use of the South Padre Island Convention Centre, which Knight said is currently housing the other approximately 4,000 in a combination of tarps, kiddie pools and boxes "lined up tip to toe."

Link to tweet

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/17/968719492/volunteers-in-texas-are-saving-thousands-of-cold-stunned-sea-turtles-from-the-st

[secondwind]

1. This warmed my heart. No pun intended.

[roamer65]

2. True heroes.

[Submariner]

3. Great people coming to the rescue

Sea turtles have been around over 100 million years.

I can only imagine that massive shoreline turtle die-offs must have looked like a huge seafood buffet for birds and mammals, before humans came into existence. First to eat them, now save them from massive death episodes due to cold.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. K&R