SpaceX Joins Locals to Save Nearly 4,500 Sea Turtles From Cold in Texas

The volunteer work has been carried out in the face of freezing temperatures in Texas, as the state deals with power shortages caused by the cold. A historic winter storm has caused outages as well as frigid water conditions that could be lethal to the turtles.

Texas Game Wardens assigned to Cameron county rescued 141 sea turtles from the frigid waters of the Brownsville Ship Channel and surrounding bays. The sea turtles were transported via the PV Murchison, operated by Sgt. Game Warden Duke and B/M Bowers-Vest. pic.twitter.com/LqFBrElTog

— Texas Game Warden (@TexasGameWarden) February 17, 2021

As of the morning of Wednesday, Feb.17, the floor of Sea Turtle, Inc's facility is said to be covered in bins containing approximately 500 rescued sea turtles.

As that facility quickly ran out of space, the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau donated the use of the South Padre Island Convention Center. Approximately 4,000 turtles are being housed at the center in a combination of kiddie pools, tarps, and boxes.

Knight told NPR that it is likely turtles won't be released from the facilities until Saturday at the earliest. What's more, with more trucks of rescued turtles coming in by the hour, it is likely that a third facility will be needed to house the rescued sea creatures.

The 'Armageddon of all cold stuns'

As turtles are coldblooded, they cannot regulate their own body temperature, meaning they are particularly vulnerable to the extreme weather conditions that are currently affecting the state of Texas.

In fact, when water temperatures drop below a certain threshold, sea turtles can suffer from a condition known as "cold stun" where they remain awake but lose the ability to move. This condition often leads to death by drowning or injury.

Sea Turtle, Inc. approximately 30 employees, and 500 registered volunteers, prepare for the "cold stun" season annually by carrying out sea turtle interaction training. This year's conditions have been particularly challenging due to electricity outages — it "has been the Armageddon of all cold stuns," Knight explained.

They ran out of space at the rescue center, so the local convention center opened its doors to turtle storage. This video was from yesterday afternoon. By the time my mom sent it to me, there were so many more that she said, “there is no empty floor space tonight.” pic.twitter.com/g6Gw7dfIOQ

— Lara (@lara_hand) February 16, 2021

To help out, employees from the nearby SpaceX Boca Chica launch site — home to the company's recent Starship prototype test flights — also joined in on the turtle rescue and have rescued some 850 turtles. The space company has collaborated with the nonprofit on previous occasions.

On Tuesday night, Feb 16., officials from SpaceX also showed up at Sea Turtle, Inc.'s facility with a massive commercial generator, giving the nonprofit power to help them shelter the rescued sea turtles. 

Though some of the endangered turtles, unfortunately, might not make it through the next few days of extreme conditions, Knight says she looks forward to the "unprecedented" mass release of these rescued sea turtles, once the conditions are right.