On South Padre Island, in Texas, sea turtles are being taken very seriously. At Sea Turtle, Incorporated, a non-profit organization, sea turtles are the focus. From beach patrols to a center that takes care of wounded turtles and teaches the public about this creature, the organization is out to inform the public about these animals.

The Founding

Sea Turtle, Inc., also known as STI, was formed in 1977 by “The Turtle Lady of South Padre Island”, Ila Loetscher. The non-profit group originally formed to help bring back the population of a particular species called Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle. But over the years, as other types of sea turtles have been found, the group has become an all-encompassing turtle refuge. Upon my recent visit, they even had a land turtle that had been found trying to cross a busy street. He was there to show visitors the difference between sea turtles and land turtles.

The Center

The center is located on the island. It is a simple facility that is home to several sea turtles that have been wounded in various ways. They are kept in different large tanks and fed very well. The ones that have been found wounded that can be restored to their original and healthy condition are released back into the wild. And the sea turtles that can not return to the sea because of missing limbs are given a happy life informing the public of their kind.

The Work

Nesting for the turtles is currently in season, so Sea Turtle Inc. is working extra hard to make sure all sea turtles coming to the island are handled with care and helped in this process to ensure successful nesting.

They do this by patrolling the beach on four wheelers to look for the nests of sea turtles. They have signs up warning tourists to be on the look out for these nests and what to do if you find one.

They also have a large boat that goes before the fishing boats around the island with nets that catch any sea turtles around, to release in a safer area away from fishing boats.

Good News

And the efforts of this organization have not been in vain. There have been 161 Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle nests found on Texas coasts so far this year, which exceeds last years number of 128. Most of these have been discovered in the vicinity of South Padre Island. This endangered sea turtle is receiving a great amount of help from STI in bringing back its population. www.seaturtleinc.com