Wildlife Rescue Press Packet
Please find press releases from our Wildlife Rescue Program below. Each article has photos and b-roll attached for your use with appropriate credit.
Please find press releases from our Wildlife Rescue Program below. Each article has photos and b-roll attached for your use with appropriate credit.
The Wildlife Rescue Program is the largest coastal wildlife rescue program in Texas and one of the largest in the U.S. and is the only rescue program in Texas that is permitted to receive marine mammals, manatees, sea turtles, and birds. Since 1995, the Aquarium has admitted over 8,700 animals with over 4,000 released back into their natural habitat. 2,855 of those animals were endangered species.
The Texas State Aquarium has helped many stranded marine mammals, sea turtles, raptors, and shorebirds after they are injured in the wild. When one of these species is found injured, it is brought to the Aquarium’s Wildlife Rescue Center for acute medical care. Once the animal is healthy and deemed releasable, the Aquarium returns the animal to its natural habitat. In the event the animal is not releasable due to a permanent disability, the Aquarium works to find a proper long-term facility for the animal.
Pending the condition of the animal when it is brought in, Aquarium staff stabilizes the animal, evaluates its condition, and provides comprehensive medical treatment. Services range from simply providing a safe, temporary refuge for an exhausted migratory shorebird to acute medical care for an ill dolphin.
The Port Corpus Christi Center for Wildlife Rescue is the largest coastal wildlife rescue facility in Texas, and one of the largest in the U.S. The center is the only Texas wildlife rescue facility permitted to treat marine mammals, raptors, shorebirds, and sea turtles and can accommodate thousands of animals at any given time. The new center is outfitted with state-of-the-art veterinary medical equipment, an interpretive gallery, an emergency operations center, and the only CAT scan used specifically for wildlife in Texas.
For the first time since the Aquarium’s rescue program started, the public has unparalleled access to witness the treatment and rehabilitation of thousands of shorebirds, raptors, marine mammals, and sea turtles. One of the Aquarium’s goals is to facilitate learning for veterinary medical students and veterinary technologists and to better understand what the community can do to help protect wildlife.
Please find the video below for a complete history of the Rescue Center and how the new Port Corpus Christi Center for Wildlife Rescue came to be.
Within days of notification, Texas State Aquarium’s Port Corpus Christi Center for Wildlife Rescue received eight Mississippi Kite fledglings into its Bird Intensive Care Unit after Hurricane Beryl left the Houston area and its local wildlife with significant damage.
Following the severe cold front on January 15th that sent temperatures in South Texas plummeting below freezing, the Texas State Aquarium Port Corpus Christi Center for Wildlife Rescue activated its emergency plans and protocols in response to a sea turtle cold-stunning event.
On March 3, 2023, the Texas State Aquarium held the Grand Opening of the new Port of Corpus Christi Center for Wildlife Rescue. The new state-of-the-art, 26,000-square-foot facility is the largest rescue center in the state and one of the largest in the country.
The holidays looked a little different for several staff members, wildlife rescue and conservation partners, advocates, and volunteers around the Coastal Bend.
Christmas weekend, the Texas State Aquarium Wildlife Rescue Team has admitted 245 cold-stunned green sea turtles to its Wildlife Rescue Program.
On Saturday, November 26, 2022, the Texas State Aquarium released nine loggerhead sea turtles that were admitted to the Aquarium’s Wildlife Rescue Program between July and September after being stranded on Texas beaches.
The Texas State Aquarium implemented emergency housing to care for numerous loggerhead sea turtles stranded in South Texas.
From July 11th through July 21, the Texas State Aquarium's (TSA) Wildlife Rescue Center admitted eight large loggerhead sea turtles.
On Friday, March 25, 2022, the Texas State Aquarium released 10 of the 11 cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley sea turtles that came to the Wildlife Rescue Center all the way from New England Aquarium back in early December 2021.
After months of dedication, work, and 24/7 care, the male bottlenose dolphin calf rescued in June 2021 has found his forever home at a nonprofit research and education facility.
The Texas State Aquarium released 73 of the 80 cold-stunned sea turtles that were admitted to the Aquarium due to a cold-stunning event.
32 Kemp’s ridley sea turtles were flown to Corpus Christi, Texas from New England Aquarium by Turtles Fly Too, a charitable organization that facilitates relocation efforts for endangered species using volunteer pilots across the U.S.
The Texas State Aquarium is excited to announce that, thanks to an extraordinary gift from the Dobson Family of Foundations, funding commitments for the new Port of Corpus Christi-Center for Wildlife Rescue have reached a significant milestone.
From February 13 through February 23, the Aquarium admitted and cared for over 1,000 cold-stunned sea turtles and has already released over 950 sea turtles back into their natural habitat.
The Texas State Aquarium’s Wildlife Rescue Center is participating in a major sea turtle cold stunning event and rescue operation due to the extraordinarily cold temperatures the Coastal Bend is experiencing.