SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — More than half of the cold-stunned turtles rescued last week have been returned to their warmer home habitat.
On Saturday, Feb. 20, more than 2,200 turtles were released into the gulf waters with the help of volunteers, who started working at 10 p.m. Friday night.
DJ Lerma was among those helping with the rescue, as well as the release.
“There were pretty heavy turtles. All the turtles were at least 60 pounds plus and some maybe 150 pounds, and there were only 10 of us moving them. We took off at one in the morning and came back at 9 a.m.,” Lerma said.
“We started unloading at four or five in the morning. We had the boat only for one day, and we had to cram it into a 24-hour period,” he said.
Lerma said he would put on his waders to look for turtles in the water, and he would see little heads popping and floating.
“I would pick them up and some would have life and some would not, but it was good to see them come back to life. It is heartwarming,” he said.
“It is humbling to help animals that can’t help themselves,” Lerma said.
TJ Reyna is a long-time fisherman but had never volunteered with Sea Turtle Inc. until now. Reyna said as soon as he saw turtles were in need of help, he rushed to offer it.
“Me being a captain, the resources from the bay are kind of what I live for, and that is how I feed my family. I felt compelled to help because this is our base system, how we educate people and how we provide tourism down here at South Padre Island,” Reyna said.
For him, it was a spiritual experience. The second day Reyna began volunteering, he rescued a 400-pound turtle, and the turtle woke up that same day.
“It kind of gave me more motivation, what I was doing was actually working. Personally I helped rescue over 400,” he said.
On Saturday, Reyna helped out with the turtle release and said it was 20 miles off shore where the warm waters were residing. He said the majority of the rescues survived.
“We had a ramp set up on the back of the boat, and it was a big help. We water hosed it, and it was a constant flow of water and the sea turtles loved it,” he said.
“By 3 p.m. the sun was out, and they were all warmed up. And they were able to get up and go. When they woke up, they started heading toward the back of the ramp. They did most of the work for us; it was incredible,” Reyna said.
Now, he said he is hoping to dedicate 10 hours of his week to Sea Turtle Inc.
“Being a part of the community, it kind of opened our eyes to what the environment has to offer and be more conscious of what we are doing. No more plastic straws or plastic bags. Sea turtles help the food chain,” he said.
Sea Turtle Inc. Executive Director Wendy Knight said the open ocean release was done, but they have not been able to do public releases since March 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“I hope by the time hospital patients are rehabilitated, the beach shore will be warm, but there is no way to tell. That’s not something that’s decided until the day of or right before,” Knight said.
However, there are no exact numbers of how many turtles are being rehabilitated yet.
“We have to do federal intake forms on all of them so I can’t release numbers till that process is finished, but the hospital is full at the moment,” she said.
To show appreciation to volunteers, Knight announced on Friday it will be “Gratitude Day” at Sea Turtle Inc.
“If you rescued a turtle, donated supplies, funds, food, boats, trailers, generators or provided us aid during our efforts please come by anytime between regular hours on Friday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. We will have a special gift for you. There will be photo opportunities, and business owners please bring or wear your logo so we can include it in photos. This is our chance to say thank you South Padre Island. We could not have survived without your support,” the statement read.
Regular hours will be back starting Saturday.
More information:
Sea Turtle Inc.
Open Tuesday to Sunday
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
