CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Clearwater Marine Aquarium is caring for twenty cold-stressed sea turtles rescued around Tampa Bay.
The Treasure Island Police Department's Community Service Crew discovered one of those turtles while on routine patrol.
WATCH: Clearwater Marine Aquarium rescues and cares for cold-stressed sea turtles
The team acted quickly and contacted the aquarium.
"More than likely what happened is this animal is very lethargic just because it was not reacting, wasn’t swimming. The tide probably pushed it up onto the beach and the movement of the water probably buried it," said Dr. Shelly Marquardt.
Dr. Shelly Marquardt is Vice President of Animal & Environmental Health at Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
She said that, upon arrival at the aquarium, the turtles are allowed to warm up and rest before being moved to a pool.
"They’re in bins. These animals do breathe air. They don’t need to be in water all the time and it’s actually better for them because they can rest and so they’re in a specific temperature right now, they’re going to warm up, hopefully, to a nice, even temperature," she said.
Dr. Marquardt said they started rescuing turtles on Sunday. When a turtle's body temperature drops below 50°F due to cold water, it becomes lethargic and unable to swim.
"They don’t evade boats so if the boat comes up to them, they just kind of don’t move move. If someone were to go and try and pick them up, they tend to be rather sloppy for lack of terms so their flippers kind hang, their head kinda hangs," she said.
She said the turtles were rescued throughout Florida, including the Tampa Bay area, Pinellas County, and Crystal River.
"We cover multiple different counties so we’re getting some as far north as Dixie and Levy County and then all the way down south to lower Pinellas," she said.
The aquarium aims to treat and, eventually, release the turtles in its care. They expect to rescue more turtles in the next few days.
"We mainly attribute this to the cold weather and also the wind so as these animals start to cool down, they're exothermic which means they get their temperature from the surrounding environment so as the water temperature drops, their temperature drops. They get more lethargic and then what happens is the wind will push them to the beaches and that’s where people are finding them," she said.
If you discover an animal in distress, call the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Rescue Hotline.
For more information, click here.
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