Thousands of 'cold-stunned' sea turtles rescued off coast of Texas

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The brutal cold snap that has frozen Texas hasn’t only numbed unprepared people to the bone - thousands of turtles have been caught off-guard too.

Thousands of sea turtles unused to the plunge in temperatures have been washing up on the beaches of South Padre Island, off the southern coast of Texas. Volunteers have brought some 4,700 of them to a convention centre, where they are being kept in tubs and enclosures before they can be released when the water is warmer.

“It’s an unprecedented event,” said Wendy Knight, executive director of research and conservation centre Sea Turtle Inc, which has been helming the effort. Knight said normally only 100-500 turtles wash up on the beaches in south Texas each winter.