Sea Turtle Release at Saint George Island State Park this Saturday

LEND A HAND  We are only able to rescue, rehabilitate and return to the wild turtles like Barney with the support of people like you. Consider making a donation today. All contributions are tax-deductible. Click the button below to donate via PayPal using any major credit or debit card.       Sea Turtle Release at Saint George Island State Park      Dear Friend of the Aquarium, We have a wonderful happy event we'd like to invite you to attend. The Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory Turtle Rescue Team is delighted to announce that they will be releasing approx. 40 sea turtles back into the Gulf of Mexico at St. George Island State Park on Saturday, January 20th at 3:00 pm.  These rehabilitated cold stunned turtles were initially rescued from St. George Island, Dog Island and Alligator Harbor during the cold snap on Jan 5th & 6th. The turtles have since recovered and are cleared by FWC to return to the Gulf due to a warming trend beginning Saturday. The Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory would like to thank all of our volunteers, followers and supporters during this cold stunning event. We could not have done saved these beautiful turtles without your support and dedication. We hope you can join us in celebrating our success by seeing the rescued turtles returned to the sea. In the first week of January with overnight lows hovering in the 20's hundreds of sea turtles were rescued across Florida. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), sea turtle rescue organizations and volunteers were searching the shallow waters and walking the beaches. In our area, Gulf Specimen Marine Lab, a licensed sea turtle rehab facility were alerted that turtles were dying off St. George Island, Dog Island and Alligator Point, so we, headed out. We rescued and transported 47 cold stunned sea turtles to our facility in Panacea. Most of the turtles are juvenile Green sea turtles and a few Kemp's Ridleys. When the water temperature drops below fifty degrees F. sea turtles are unable to swim because, being cold-blooded animals, their body temperature is the same as the water temperature. As it gets colder they become torpid, float around, wash to shore and, unless rescued, freeze to death. We are grateful we were able to rescue so many of our local sea turtles due tot he support of our community. We would like to thank The St. George Island Rangers &Staff, FWC, Audubon, Terri Cannon, Cynthia & Ron Jenkins, Val and Dave LaHart, Serge Latour and all our volunteers and GSML employees who spent many hours at various location including St. George Island, Dog Island  and Alligator Point walking miles of beaches and wading through boggy mud flats in search of stranded turtles lugging them back to vehicles and boats. Your time and dedication is greatly appreciated. Sincerely,  Cypress Rudloe Executive Director

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