Al Gore In Texas?

At least three dozen juvenile green sea turtles had to be rescued from a shallow bay on South Padre Island, Texas when the water temperature plummeted 18 degrees in just 48 hours. The turtle-sicles were comatose from the shocking drop in temperature and had to be rushed by volunteers to a rescue facility where they were placed on slow broil under heat lamps until they recovered enough to be fed Romain lettuce. (There is no way of telling how many turtle-bergs are still bobbing about in the bay, unfortunately.)

The cold-blooded animals were left comatose by the rapid temperature drop this week in the shallow bay where the young turtles feed. Animal rescuers feared the cold would kill the turtles or make them so sluggish as to be vulnerable to sharks.

Volunteers, students and others scooped them up from the surf, bundled them in blankets and towels and took them to the privately run Sea Turtle Inc. rescue center and a University of Texas marine laboratory.

The juvenile green turtles were scrubbed clean of grime, then put under a heat lamp until their eyes opened and their flippers twitched — signs they were reviving and ready to be put in 66- to 68-degree holding tanks and feed on romaine lettuce.

Green turtles are born off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and spend their early years feeding on turtle grass in shallow bay areas such as South Padre's Laguna Madre. When they are mature — 15 to 20 years old and weighing about 500 pounds — they return to Mexican waters to breed.

But a cold spell that sent the mercury plummeting into the 30s on Monday and Tuesday caused the water temperature to fall into the 50s. The turtles' systems began shutting down, and they started washing ashore.

Given the well documented Gore Effect, we strongly suspect that Al Gore was in the immediate area. He can now claim credit for inventing chilled turtle! What a guy!

More about the Sea Turtle, Inc. organization here. Nice job on the save, folks).