Overview
- Responders found the adult female Kemp’s ridley on March 7 in Galveston, lethargic and heavily fouled with barnacles, algae and sediment.
- After an emergency evaluation at the Houston Zoo, the turtle was moved to the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research hospital, where she remains in critical condition.
- GCSTR says the animal is on a Houston Zoo–directed medical plan with antibiotics and pain management and has shown early signs of improvement.
- Director Christopher Marshall explained that sick turtles slow down and quickly accumulate organisms, creating a feedback loop that further weakens them.
- Officials urge the public to call 1-866-TURTLE-5 and not handle stranded turtles, as 27 rehabilitated Kemp’s ridleys were returned to the Gulf in Mississippi on March 11 after cold-stunning in Cape Cod.