News Release

Padre Island National Seashore to Begin Releasing Rehabilitated Cold Stunned Sea Turtles

Date: February 22, 2021

Padre Island National Seashore to begin releasing rehabilitated cold stunned sea turtlesTexas recently experienced record breaking cold temperatures, causing the largest cold stunning event in the state’s history. Cold stunning causes sea turtles to become immobilized when water temperatures get too low. As part of an ongoing rescue effort, hundreds of sea turtles were brought to Padre Island National Seashore, primarily from the Laguna Madre, where waters are relatively shallow and heavily influenced by cold air temperatures. 

National Park Service staff, volunteers, and partners have patrolled inshore waters in and near Padre Island National Seashore on foot and in boats. Cold stunned sea turtles were brought to the park for documentation, tagging, and stabilization, and then were transported to one of three local rehabilitation facilities at Amos Rehabilitation Keep (ARK), the Texas State Aquarium, and the Texas Sealife Center. The vast majority of the turtles recovered have been green sea turtles, which are a federal and state listed threatened species in Texas. Efforts to recover and rehabilitate cold stunned turtles are ongoing.

On Tuesday, February 23^rd, the National Park Service will begin the process of releasing rehabilitated sea turtles into the wild. Because water temperatures near shore are still frigid, the sea turtles will be released off shore into deeper water. A boat will be chartered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for use by multiple agencies to release the turtles into the Gulf of Mexico.

For more information about Padre Island National Seashore wildlife, visit the park webpage at https://www.nps.gov/pais/learn/nature/animals.htm. More about the sea turtle recovery program can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/nps.pais.seaturtles. To view an interview with Donna Shaver, Chief of the Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery with the National Park Service, https://fb.watch/3PYA8K-IDd/ www.nps.govAbout the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 419 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.