Rehabilitation

Current Patients

Sea Turtle, Inc.'s facility serves as a rehabilitation center for sick and injured sea turtles. We rehabilitate 40-100+ sea turtles each year for return to the wild. Turtles are treated for a wide variety of injuries including predator attacks,  line & net entanglements, cold stunning, infections, and bowel obstructions from balloons, plastic bags, and boat strikes. Even if you aren't on South Padre Island, you can still check out who we are currently treating in our hospital.

Current Residents

Sea Turtle, Inc. is home to some former patients who are not able to be released back to the wild.  Sea turtles with less than 75% of their flippers are deemed unsuitable for life in the wild. Our rehabilitation center is fortunate in that we possess zoological permits that allow us to keep resident sea turtles on permanent public display. We have 7 resident sea turtles that stay at the facility all year long and act as educators and ambassadors for sea turtle conservation.

Rehab Releases

Once a turtle has been successfully rehabilitated, it is evaluated by our Veterinarian,Vet Tech and Executive Director. If all agree,, the turtle will be tagged and  released back to the ocean. Each sea turtle is outfitted with two types of flipper tags that identify the turtle should it ever strand again. Depending on the species of sea turtle, we may release it in the ocean, bay, or even allow it to crawl down the beach on its own.

Threats to Sea Turtles

Sea turtles have roamed the Earth's oceans for over 150 million years. Today, with a growing human population and greater access to the sea, human impacts are driving these amazing creatures to extinction. All sea turtles in the United States are considered "threatened" or "endangered" & are protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Learn more about what human actions are hurting our oceans and what you can do to save them!!