Four Sea Turtles Treated at the Houston Zoo

The Houston Zoo provided veterinary care for four sea turtles on July 7. The four turtles were rescued by our partners at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administraion (NOAA) in Galveston and brought to our Animals Hospital for care. All four have all gone back to Galveston where they will be rehabilitated by NOAA until they are strong enough to be released back into the Gulf of Mexico. 

We are so fortunate to have sea turtles in our Texas waters, and it is easy for us to all be sea turtle conservation heroes! A few simple actions taken by our community can help protect sea turtles in the wild:

1) If you accidentally catch a sea turtle while fishing, please call 1-866-TURTLE-5 so a biologist can come out and respond to the turtle-giving it adequate care and attention.

2) Switch from plastic grocery bags to reusable grocery bags-our plastic bags are light and fly away easily. They can end up in our bayous and float to the ocean. Sea turtles mistake them for jellyfish, and when ingested can make them sick.