Tonight, twelve new Green Sea Turtles were rescued by the Jekyll Island Authority and the Georgia Sea Turtle Center from Florida due to the cold weather.
Experts say around 2300 turtles have been affected by the unusually cold weather.
Last week, nearly 100 sea turtles were found floating in the Mosquito Lagoon in Florida, after cold water shocked their tropically inclined systems. The Georgia Sea Turtle Center has been working closely with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to help rescue and rehabilitate some of these turtles.
Earlier today the Georgia Sea Turtle Center released 8 of the 10 cold stunned turtles that were rescued last week and 2 kemps ridleys and a loggerhead that was cold stunned in NC in Ft Lauderdale, FL.
This is very unusual weather for Florida which is why so many turtles have been affected….they usually get some cold stunning but never in this magnitude.
Sea turtles can handle slower temperature drops and 50 F water temperatures. But anything more, they will have problems. Most of the turtles are feeding in shallow water so the water is more prone to drop if there are sudden drops in air temperature. Deeper water is not as much of a problem for them.
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