Historic Cold Wave in Texas: Thousands of Half-Frozen Sea Turtles Rescued

 Steph Deschamps / February 18, 2021

The brutal cold spell that froze the American state of Texas numbed thousands of sea turtles, unaccustomed to such a drop in temperature. They stranded on the beaches of South Padre Island off the south coast of Texas.

Yesterday, volunteers brought some 4,700 of them to a convention center, where they are placed in bins and enclosures before being released when the water gets warmer.

Wendy Knight, the executive director of Sea Turtle Inc., who spearheaded the operation, told Reuters that it was an unprecedented event. Knight noted that typically only 100 to 500 turtles wash up on the beaches of South Texas each winter.

Knight explains that turtles are cold dazed, a condition that affects cold-blooded animals that suddenly exhibit hypothermic reactions such as lethargy and an inability to move when the temperature in the environment around them drops.