On Thursday, August 9th, a green sea turtle (native to our Gulf Coast waters) was released into Galveston Bay through a coordinated effort by NOAA Fisheries, Moody Gardens, and the Houston Zoo. NOAA Fisheries is responsible for responding to stranded sea turtles along the upper Texas coast, like this small green sea turtle.
I'm ready for the open water!!
The turtle was found stranded last year near Matagorda Bay. Sea turtles can strand on our Texas beaches for any number of reasons; caught on a hook/line, injuries due to boats or nets, disease, algal blooms, cold weather, entanglement, or pollution.
Monofilament line used for fishing can often cause sea turtle entanglement
When sea turtles are found stranded on the upper Texas coast they are checked over by the NOAA Fisheries staff who can then include local veterinarians (like our Houston Zoo Vet Staff!) if further medical assistance is needed. A select group of organizations can then house the stranded sea turtles until they are healthy enough to be released (check out our small green sea turtle in the Kipp Aquarium who is a great example of this collaborative work!).
All turtles must be photographed and documented before being released
The small green sea turtle was housed in Moody Gardens during his rehabilitation period, and then brought to the Houston Zoo to have one final checkup by our Vet Staff before being released Thursday morning. He swam away quite happily it seemed as he intermittently came up for several breaths before diving down below the murky water.
The release!
We hope to have plenty of success stories like this one to share with you as we document all of the sea turtle happenings on our Texas Coast. Stay tuned for our sea turtle series coming soon!
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