RALPH PACE / MINDEN PICTURES (SWIMMING); SANDESH KADUR /
FELIS IMAGES (CARRYING, INSIDE); SEA TURTLE, INC. (RELEASE) DECEMBER 2021 / JANUARY 2022 • NAT GEO KIDS (^25)
All seven species of
sea turtles are either
vulnerable, endangered,
or critically
endangered.
SEA TURTLES
EVERYWHERE
Even though the center doesn’t have
power, the temperature inside the build-
ing is warmer than it is outside. So work-
ers place the paralyzed patients in dry
kiddie pools all over the floor—even in
the gift shop and the bathrooms. But
just after midnight, executive director
Wendy Knight says to her staff: “Dude,
we’re going to run out of room.”
That morning, she gets permission to
use the South Padre Island Convention
Center, which has been closed because
of COVID-19 restrictions. Soon staff are
lining up hundreds more sea turtles on
tarps—they’ve run out of pools—
throughout the building.
Over the next five days, new sea tur-
tles arrive during the daytime, and staff
keep track of their size, species, and
where they were found. At night, they
wear headbands with flashlights to pro-
vide medical care in the dark building.
The workers apply a special cream to the
sea turtles’ eyes to keep them moist and
RESCUERS
MONITOR
THOUSANDS OF
SEA TURTLES
AT THE LOCAL
CONVENTION
CENTER.
treat other problems, such as infections
or injuries from boat strikes.
During that time, a few sea turtles
slowly start to lift their heads, then
move their flippers—they’re waking up.
But the gulf waters aren’t warm enough
yet, so volunteers and staff work to keep
the sea turtles clean while they’re out
of the water. (Now that they’re awake,
they’re going to the bathroom again!)
“They’re crawling all over each other
like they’re saying, ‘Who knows the way
to the ocean?’” Knight says.
SEA SLIDE
Eight days after the storm began, the
water is finally warm enough to release
the sea turtles. Workers load the animals
onto a ship donated for the release and
set sail. “As the ship moved out, the waves
got bigger, and they could smell the ocean
air,” Knight says. “The turtles were like,
‘Put me back in! I’m ready!’”
About 30 miles offshore, the ship drops
its anchor. One by one, the workers place
over 2,300 sea turtles onto ramps that
hang off the side of the boat. Like the
best waterslide ever, the reptiles whoosh
back into the ocean and swim away.
If the workers and volunteers—who
didn’t even have power in their own
homes—hadn’t rescued these sea tur-
tles, none of them would have survived.
“We were up all night, every night, and
the release was exhausting, too,” Knight
says. “But it was worth it to
watch those sea turtles
go down the slides back
where they belong.”
A HEALTHY
SEA TURTLE
IS RELEASED
DOWN A BOAT
RAMP BACK
INTO THE GULF.