Dozens of rehabilitated sea turtles returned to Gulf of Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Feb. 22, 2007
Dozens of rehabilitated sea turtles returned to Gulf of Mexico
The Associated Press



The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
In a photo provided by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, employees Mike Ray, left, and Melinda Dunks help transport green sea turtles to a release site in the lower Laguna Madre near Port Isabel, Texas, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007. Ninety of the large turtles were cold-stunned during frigid weather in late January and washed up on local shores where they were rescued and rehabilitated in warmer waters at the Texas State Aquarium and the CCA/CPL Marine fish hatchery.

HARLINGEN, Texas -- A cold snap left them comatose. Now, nearly 90 sea turtles are back in the Gulf of Mexico.

THE RELEASE

Jeff George, curator at Sea Turtle Inc., a nonprofit turtle rescue group on South Padre Island, said 42 of the endangered juvenile green turtles were released Tuesday and 46 on Wednesday.

The ones that remained were still on antibiotics and will be returned to South Padre waters in the summer, he said.

THE REMAINDER

At least 130 of the cold-blooded animals were rescued after being stunned by a rapid temperature drop in the island's Laguna Madre bay in mid-January. Seven turtles were found dead.

What happened to them? With the water temperature in the 50s, the turtles' systems began shutting down, and they started washing ashore.
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http://www.centredaily.com/128/story/22177.html