SHELL-EBRATING SEA TURTLE RELEASES

SHELL-EBRATING SEA TURTLE RELEASES

Wildlife Rescue staffer Kara Klaustermeier holds Champ, a rescued Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, shortly before his release!

It was a busy summer and fall season for our Wildlife Rescue program, which rehabilitated and released more than 270 sea turtles which were threatened by various injuries and ailments. Their injuries ranged from coldstunning, to wounds caused by accidental strandings, to entanglement in fishing line and in one incredible case, a shark attack!

But thanks to the expertise of our rescue staff and volunteers, nearly every sea turtle made a full recovery and was released back into their natural habitat.

Staff and volunteers from the Aquarium’s Wildlife Rescue Center and Padre Island National Seashore

In September, we also said a bittersweet goodbye to “Champ,” a three-flippered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle who had been with us for nearly two years. After being found as a tiny hatchling no larger than a pack of Post-It

notes, Champ slowly but surely recovered at our Wildlife Rescue Center, eventually growing to be nearly 100 times his original size! In time, Champ showed signs that he could dive and hunt food, indicating he could survive on his own so, plans were made for his release back into the wild. On a sunny Saturday morning, hundreds of people joined us on Padre Island National Seashore to bid Champ bon voyage as he swam into his new life in the Gulf of Mexico. A huge thank you to our partners at the Padre Island National Seashore for their continued support with these rescue efforts.

Learn more about our sea turtle rescue work, and how you can help, at www.texasstateaquarium.org/ turtlerescue.