Gulf World Helps Rescue Stranded Green Sea Turtles
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Updated: 4:27 PM Jan 6, 2008
Gulf World Helps Rescue Stranded Green Sea Turtles
69 green sea turtles were recovering this weekend after Gulf World employees and the Department of Environmental Protection had to rescue them from the very cold waters of St. Joe Bay.
Posted: 2:45 PM Jan 6, 2008
Reporter: Heather Waliga
Email Address: heather.waliga@wjhg.com
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69 green sea turtles were recovering this weekend after Gulf World employees and the Department of Environmental Protection had to rescue them from the very cold waters of St. Joe Bay.

Gulf World Park Director, Kevin Walsh, said he received a call from D-E-P Thursday about a cold-stunning incident.

Crews arrived in Port St. Joe to find dozens of turtles floating in the freezing water. Walsh says the temperature dropped so low, the reptiles couldn't regulate their own body temperatures.

Workers and volunteers hauled them to Gulf World at Panama City Beach where they're currently staying in a heated pool.

Walsh says by the time the rescue crews arrived in Gulf County more than 30 of the endangered turtles died from the stunning incident.

"We didn't realize the enormity of it until we started to get into it. It started out just a few turtles and ended up being quite a few more than we had thought."

The turtles will remain at Gulf World for the next few days until the water temperature warms up again. The air temperature at the time of the incident was 24 degrees.

In the meantime, they're being numbered, weighed, and photographed for research purposes.


Latest Comments

Posted by: Elinor Location: Panama City Beach on Jan 15, 2008 at 11:27 AM

It is my son in law that is being referred to as the active TB at the water department. The story as well as Dr. Newsom's response makes everyone feel that he was irresponsibly running around spreading TB. Would you like the real story? 1. he had been seeing a Beach physician for the last year complaining of cough and fatigue. 2. he told his physician that he had been exosed to TB last year and could he have it now? 3. Physician told him he did not have TB but rather pneumonia and prescribed antibiotics for him on a least two occasions. 4. he went back to this same physician every month for over a year complaining of cough, fatigue, weight loss and pain in all his joints. Physician continued to prescribe a common pain killer and sent him on his was saying "it's time you got back to living a good life, you need to be strong and live". There is so much more to this story than what you have let out.
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