temperatures continue to drop<\/a>.<\/p>\nRescue crews with the National Park Service and other federal agencies have been pulling turtles from the Laguna Madre as water temperatures dip below 50 degrees. The sudden cold overwhelms the reptiles, leaving them hypothermic and unable to swim or respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they come in, they are stunned. They\u2019re not moving,\u201d said Dr. Tim Tristan, a veterinarian treating the turtles. \u201cThey\u2019re ectothermic, so they\u2019re the same temperature as their environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the Sea Life Center on Padre Island, more than a dozen turtles are already undergoing treatment. Some were already dealing with injuries or medical issues, making survival in frigid water even more difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne in particular has growth on his shell that suggests previous injury,\u201d Dr. Tristan said. \u201cThat can happen when turtles spend more time near the surface due to medical problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the bay, the Texas State Aquarium\u2019s Wildlife Rescue Center has activated its emergency operations plan. Staff are preparing for a possible surge as conditions worsen overnight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all hands on deck,\u201d said Jesse Gilbert, CEO of the Texas State Aquarium. \u201cThis is a very choreographed plan, and this year we\u2019re more prepared than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rescue center has multiple holding tanks ready, including a heated 100,000-gallon tank. Officials say the facility can care for up to 6,000 turtles if needed.<\/p>\n
How severe this cold-stunning event becomes remains uncertain. But, rescue teams say they\u2019re ready for whatever washes in next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wildlife officials warn this sea-turtle rescue effort could just be getting started along the coast of Corpus Christi,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-139125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}