Sea Turtle, Inc.

Sea Turtle, Inc. is a nonprofit sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation center in South Padre Island, Texas.[1] It is a popular regional ecotourism center, seeing about a quarter million visitors per year.[2] Its mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and release sick and injured sea turtles; to educate the public about sea turtles and marine conservation; and to help conserve all sea turtle species, particularly those native to the Gulf of Mexico.[1]

Sea Turtle, Inc.
26.136835°N 97.173648°W / 26.136835; -97.173648
SloganEducation, Conservation, Rehabilitation
Date opened1977
LocationSouth Padre Island, Texas
Annual visitors25,000
Websiteseaturtleinc.org

History

Sea Turtle, Inc. was founded by Ila Fox Loetscher, known locally as the "Turtle Lady."[3] After the death of her husband David in 1955, Loetscher moved to the Rio Grande Valley where her parents had retired.[4] In 1966, she accompanied Dearl Adams on a trip to Rancho Nuevo, Tamaulipas, the main nesting beach of the Kemp's ridley, to collect sea turtle eggs and relocate them to Texas.[4] Adams gifted her three Kemp's ridley hatchlings, which inspired her to dedicate the rest of her life to protecting sea turtles.[4][5] Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Loetscher took in injured sea turtles and gave presentations about them in her backyard before finally creating Sea Turtle, Inc. in 1977.[1][4][6]

Loetscher continued to operate Sea Turtle, Inc. out of her home until a dedicated clinic was built in 1999.[1] After her death in 2000, the organization continued her mission of conserving sea turtles.[4] In 2005, Sea Turtle, Inc. received a one-flippered Atlantic green sea turtle that they named Allison.[7] Four years later, intern Tom Wilson developed a prosthesis for Allison that allowed her to swim freely.[7] This was one of the first sea turtle prostheses in the world, and only three other sea turtles in the world are aided by prostheses.[7][8]

In 2018, Sea Turtle, Inc. further expanded by adding an additional building, the Education Building, which houses the resident sea turtles as well as a small museum.[9] The organization plans on demolishing the original clinic built in 1999 and replacing it with a new, state-of-the-art facility.[10]

During the Texas freeze of February, 2021, more than 12,000 cold-stunned sea turtles stranded on the Texas coast, making this the largest cold-stunning event to date.[11] Sea Turtle, Inc. rescued more than 5,000 during the freeze and released over 2,000.[11] The number of cold-stuns was so large that the organization had to store the animals at the South Padre Island Convention Centre.[11] Climate change is an emerging threat against sea turtles, and Sea Turtle, Inc. plans to be better equipped for similar cold stun events in the future, including constructing a dedicated cold-stun room.[10]

Conservation efforts and research

Aside from serving as a tourist destination and education center, Sea Turtle, Inc. aids in conservation efforts and conducts research that has been published in peer-reviewed journals.[12] The organization cooperates with others across Texas every year to protect sea turtle nests, most of which belong to the Kemp's ridley.[13] In the 2021 nesting season, Sea Turtle, Inc. protected 91 sea turtle nests and released 5,415 hatchlings.[14]

Kemp's ridley sea turtle nesting
Kemp's ridley sea turtle nesting

Animals

Sea Turtle, Inc. has five non-releasable resident sea turtles of three species. Their names and species in order of acquisition are Gerry (Atlantic green), Merry Christmas (Atlantic Green), Allison (Atlantic green), Hang Ten (Kemp's ridley), and Poppy (loggerhead).[15]

Aside from the residents, more than 100 sea turtles are treated and released at the clinic every year.[16] Most patients are juvenile Atlantic greens, which migrate to the Laguna Madre to forage on the abundant seagrass; however each of the five species of sea turtle common in the Gulf of Mexico, which also includes hawksbills and leatherbacks, has been treated at Sea Turtle, Inc.[17][18]

References
  1. "About – Sea Turtle, Inc". Retrieved 2022-08-02.
  2. Ramirez, Marco (November 19, 2021). "Sea Turtle Inc. educates the community to conserve the environment". KVEO-TV. Retrieved 2022-08-02.
  3. Pensa, Shannon (2022). "Rio Grande Valley Women's History Poster Exhibit 2022". Scholarworks @ UTRGV. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  4. Konczal, Lea (February 22, 2022). "How the Turtle Lady of South Padre Helped Save the Kemp's Ridley". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  5. Lamont, Margaret M.; Moreno, Nickolas; Camacho‐Sánchez, Fatima Yedith; Acosta‐Sánchez, H. Hugo; Glaberman, Scott; Reyes‐Lopez, Miguel Angel; Chiari, Ylenia (2021). "Genetic diversity of immature Kemp's ridley ( Lepidochelys kempii ) sea turtles from the northern Gulf of Mexico". Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. 31 (10): 3003–3010. doi:10.1002/aqc.3684. ISSN 1052-7613. S2CID 238675177.
  6. DeLeon, Jessica (May 25, 1997). "Talkin' Turtle: Volunteers continue recovery effort of 'The Turtle Lady'". The Monitor. Photos by Delicia Lopez. pp. 1E, 10E – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Allison – Sea Turtle, Inc". Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  8. Burgwardt, Frederick (2017). Designing a Biomimetic Prosthetic Flipper for a Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (PDF) (Bachelor of Science thesis). Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
  9. Arévalo, Dina (February 16, 2018). "New Sea Turtle Inc. facility opens Saturday". Port Isabel-South Padre Press. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  10. "Our New Hospital – Sea Turtle, Inc". Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  11. Burnett, John (March 13, 2021). "Texas 'Cold-Stun' Of 2021 Was Largest Sea Turtle Rescue In History, Scientists Say". Georgia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  12. "Herpetological Review- December – Sea Turtle, Inc". Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  13. Christi, Mailing Address: P. O. Box 181300 Corpus; Isl, TX 78480 Phone: 361 949-8068 This is the primary phone number for the Malaquite Visitor Center at Padre; Us, National Seashore Contact. "Current Sea Turtle Nesting Season - Padre Island National Seashore (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  14. "Conservation – Sea Turtle, Inc". Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  15. "Residents – Sea Turtle, Inc". Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  16. "Current Patients – Sea Turtle, Inc". Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  17. Metz, Tasha L.; Landry, André M. (2013). "An Assessment of Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Stocks Along the Texas Coast, with Emphasis on the Lower Laguna Madre". Chelonian Conservation and Biology. 12 (2): 293–302. doi:10.2744/CCB-1046.1. ISSN 1071-8443. S2CID 84983836.
  18. "Frequent Questions: Northern Gulf of Mexico Sea Turtle Strandings | NOAA Fisheries". NOAA Fisheries. 2022-06-28. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
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