Featured Image Credit: Gulfarium
Arrangements are being made in Florida for animals facing freezing temperatures.
Staff at the Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park and the Emerald Coast Zoo worked vigorously to provide and monitor the conditions of indoor habitats for some marine life and land animals.
Emerald Coast Zoo’s Rick DeRidder, the owner, said: “We bought this zoo a few months ago and came here from Cocoa Beach, so not only are the animals we brought with us freezing, we’re freezing as well.” Being unprepared, DeRidder and his staff placed blankets, used heated mats and light bulbs to improve the conditions of the animal’s habitats.
Gulfarium’s Graham Northup, an overseer of fish and reptiles, stated that due to the mild winters in Florida that it has been “several years” since the staff had had to make arrangements for animals facing freezing temperatures.
Northup said, “Although we here are very bundled up and very cold, our animals are very well taken care of.”
The Gulfarium’s brought in four “cold-stunned” sea turtles into their C.A.R.E. center, a nonprofit rehabilitation center for sick and injured marine life. A marine animal becomes cold-stunned when they become weak and unable to move due to cold water temperatures.
Northup suggests calling the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) if anyone comes across a turtle that may be cold-stunned.
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