A treacherous winter storm has caused fatalities in a number of wildlife including pelicans and sea turtles.
Teams have rescued over 130 traumatized and endangered sea turtles on Northwestern Florida beaches, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
A dozen of the threatened sea turtles were also found on national sea shore. Since sea turtles go into a catatonic state when suffering from hypothermia it is hard to tell which turtles will be able to make a recovery.
"With all the bridges being closed, we were not able to do what we really needed to do," seashore biologist Mark Nicholas, told the Pensacola News Journal . "Time is of the essence."
The majority of the sea turtles are green sea turtles but some Kemps Ridley have been found as well. The turtles will recover at Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach before being released next week.
A combination of freezing rain and low tides are believed to have caused the water temperatures to drop from 58 to a chilly 37.
When water temperatures drop below just 50 degrees turtles can become stunned and have trouble moving around in the water; this effect can prove to be fatal.
Even though over 150 sea turtles were found Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation wildlife biologist Allen Foley believes the event is only minor.
"A moderate event would be many hundreds of sea turtles," Foley told the Pensacola News Journal.
Foley saw other dead or injured animals around the area such as "sea urchins and horseshoe crabs."
"When it comes to wildlife, it seems the turtles had the most trouble," he said.
The team has also taken in five pelicans suffering from hypothermia over the past week.
"We've not gotten anything today, and that's a little worrisome," sanctuary Director Dorothy Kaufman told the Pensacola News Journal. "Usually a lot of the migratory birds, sea and shore birds will have a situation with the cold front and will get in a compromised state."
