Sea turtles suffer in recent cold snap

The recent cold weather snap was hard on sea turtles.

Gulf World Marine Institute in Panama City Beach has taken in nearly 50 endangered sea turtles in the past two days.

The turtles have been stranding due to cold temperatures in shallow bay waters – many of them have been rescued from the St. Joe bay near cape San Blas.

Sea turtles can’t regulate their body temperature so cold snaps affect them hard.

When it gets too cold the turtles go into a hypothermic state and they become very weak and can sometime suffer from secondary illnesses because of it.

The body temperature of the turtles being rescued are between 40-50 degrees and some of the animal’s heart rates are as slow as one beat per minute.

All the animals going to the Gulf World Marine Institute are in intensive care where their body temperatures will be slowly warmed and any necessary medical treatments will be administered as needed.

Rescue teams will continue to search until the water temperatures are warm.

The rescues are being done with the help FWC, Gulf Island National Seashore, and University of Florida volunteers.

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