Andrew Orgill tends to sea turtles impacted by Texas’ record-breaking winter storm of 2021. Amos Rehabilitation Keep

In recent winters, harsh cold snaps along the Texas coast sometimes leave hundreds of sea turtles stranded on beaches and in shallow bays.  The body temperature of these reptiles is affected by their environment, and water temperatures below 50 degrees leave them cold-stunned, weak and unable to swim. Sea turtles in this condition float on the surface where they may wash ashore and are vulnerable to being struck by boats. If not rescued, many die.

The Amos Rehabilitation Keep, or ARK, part of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (MSI) in Port Aransas, rehabilitates sea turtles and birds from around Mustang and St. Joseph Islands year-round. During cold-stun events, staff at the ARK, the Texas State Aquarium, Padre Island National Seashore, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and other organizations mobilize to pick up stranded sea turtles. 

ARK staff supervisor Andrew Orgill helps coordinate shelter for the rescued animals at the ARK and nearby aquarium. While these rescues are ongoing, he grabs a few hours of sleep here and there, only relaxing when most of the animals have recovered and been released into now-warmer waters. He releases many of them himself, wading into the surf carrying large sea turtles, their flippers windmilling in eagerness to swim free.

In his time at the ARK, Orgill has noticed that cold-stun events have become more common and more severe – and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data agree. On the bright side, this is partly because years of conservation efforts have increased sea turtle populations. But rising ocean temperatures also play a part, luring sea turtles to areas where they previously did not go. This is most noticeable in the Northeast U.S., but bays in Texas, including Corpus Christi, Matagorda, and the Laguna Madre, are among six locations where these events are most common. And according to recent research, increasingly frequent, extreme cold like January’s likely is linked to Arctic warming due to climate change.  

A native of nearby Corpus Christi, Orgill started at the ARK as a volunteer in July 2009, to meet requirements for service hours at his high school, Incarnate Word Academy. 

“Tony took me in” he says. “It was all on-the-job training.” 

“Tony” is the late Anthony Amos, who worked at the MSI from 1976 until 2003. He patrolled a 7-mile stretch of beach every other day, recording observations of air and water temperature, water salinity, birds, sea turtles and trash – and rescuing animals. For Amos, the ARK was a calling, so it is appropriate that its name, originally the Animal Rehabilitation Keep, was changed to honor him after he died at 80 in Sept 2017. Orgill continues to follow in his footsteps.

The ARK sits on the edge of the MSI campus, overlooking a channel where ships pass from the Gulf of Mexico into Corpus Christi Bay. The injured animals it takes in receive veterinary care. Sea turtles recover in indoor and outdoor holding tanks and birds in a large open-air aviary. Eight small outdoor enclosures hold the raccoons, bats, rabbits, and other small mammals (and even, recently, an alligator) that occasionally show up. Most years, the ARK sees about 100 different species. The facility has room to hold about 80 cold-stunned turtles short-term and 15 to 50 sea turtles, depending on their size, brought in for other reasons. 

After Orgill graduated from high school in 2012, Amos hired him as a student worker for three days a week. In 2017, he became full-time and now is one of 5 employees, including two veterinarians.  

“Andrew is really good with animals and he cares a lot about them – not just those at the ARK, but all animals,” says Katie Swanson, manager of the MSI’s Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, who has been at the MSI since 2006. “He is very helpful and resourceful. During Hurricane Harvey, he and his family housed some birds in their own home. He has a desire to bend over backwards. This is not an 8-to-5 job. You do it for the love of the animals, not the paycheck or going home at five.”

Part of the ARK’s mission is to educate the public about local wildlife and human impacts on the coast, and public releases of cold-stunned sea turtles are a part of that effort. 

Andrew Orgill Amos Rehabilitation Keep

“The public turtle releases and the ability for the ARK to build environmental stewardship in the community and with visitors is very important,” says Swanson. “It allows people to get up close to these charismatic creatures they wouldn’t normally get to see, with no wall or aquarium between them. There’s also the fact that the animals are able to go back into the wild.”

Moriah Tyroch, former ARK animal attendant, notes that Orgill tries to schedule public releases as much as possible. “Outreach is important to teach the public how to appreciate wildlife appropriately and the consequences of our actions,” she says. “Here at the ARK, we are in an area huge for migrations. We have most of the endangered sea turtle species nesting on our beaches. It’s important to teach people, especially newcomers, about that.”

While he shines at sea turtle rescue and release, Orgill is the first to admit that administrative details are not his strength. Swanson concurs, noting somewhat ruefully that she still writes grant applications for ARK funding. But she adds that his input on what the facility needs is extremely valuable in that effort. 

He also is good with volunteers, Swanson says, and communicates well. “Andrew does a lot of the communicating with staff at other organizations and agencies. He gets permits and keeps track of all that. I’m able to depend on him because he already has that knowledge set about what permits mean and their requirements.”

Tyroch moved to Corpus Christi from El Paso to attend college in 2019.  She, too, started as a volunteer at the ARK and was hired on staff a few months later. 

“I learned a lot from Andrew,” she says. “I explained that I really wanted to learn the medical stuff because I want to be a vet. He taught me how to hold and restrain animals, how to capture them, and how to do blood draws on bird and sea turtles.”

Most of the work at the ARK goes on behind the scenes. For example, the Texas Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network hotline (1-866-TURTLE5) forwards to Orgill’s phone at night. That essentially means that he works seven days a week and after hours, he says. But he doesn’t mind. Like Amos, he sees this job  as more of a calling than work.

The ARK posts public sea turtle releases on its Facebook page, along with photos and details about the animals it takes in.

Science journalist Melissa Gaskill is a contributing editor of Texas Climate News.