Occurring after snowstorm Enzo that hit the East of the U.S., many have been suffering the conditions of the mere winter we had before summer swept in in the sunshine state. But even though our hope of snow was a 60 second episode, there were still some effects to the wildlife we may have missed along the way. Roughly about 3 weeks prior to the current warm jumpstart, around 1000 green sea turtles were saved off the Panhandle and St. Joseph Bay of Florida.
The process of saving these turtles weren’t an easy operation, also considering the costs of the rehabilitation of these animals. With the help of many of the organizations such as, the USWS (US Fish and Wildlife Service), and the FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), this rescue marks as one of the most successful turtles saves in history. As Samantha Snow, a USGS (United States Geological Survey) Biologist explained, in a normal year, we can only tag around 100 sea turtles, so in addition to saving the lives of these endangered or threatened sea turtles, this rescue has tremendous scientific value from the large number of turtles we tagged.”
Now these endangered species were in danger when that cold front came around the coast. Since turtles are cold-blooded, they adapt to the temperature around them, which makes them vulnerable in certain environments. When temperatures reach below 50 degrees, sea turtles enter a state where their body freezes in place, called cold stunned.
Similar to frostbite, with sea turtles being cold stunned, in this condition they are unable to move their limbs and muscles to swim, typically that the tissue under their skin freezes, with the inability to operate, they end up floating up to the surface. It intervenes with their immune system, blood flow and could cause organ failure. Overall, it damages their body inside and out. This type of condition only happens to sea turtles, and it can become more dangerous when temperatures reach below freezing. If that’s the case, it could rupture membranes and muscles which would be potentially fatal if the turtle is left floating. Many sea turtles fall victim to this when there is a shortage of food, and they have to explore outside areas to gather resources. Sea turtles usually roam into deeper waters to keep warm during these harsh weather conditions, but it takes nothing for them to become exposed.
The process of transporting these animals was quick and costly, but it couldn’t have been done with just a single organization. First a team would go out to sea and the shore to find these turtles on kayaks. They would pick them up and load them on board, or on land they would be placed in a size-appropriate container. They would be transported to a port, then to a holding place which where they would be studied and evaluated by a turtle master. After that they are put in turtle containers and transferred to a rehabilitation center until they’ve successfully recovered in their warm environment. Once recovered, they were released into warmer waters where they could swim safely for another day.
