The Center for Wildlife Rescue at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi, which opened March 2, profoundly improves the response to wildlife crises, and it’s open to the public for free.
“It’s a game changer,” Jesse Gilbert, CEO of the aquarium, says of the new wildlife rehabilitation center.
During Winter Storm Uri in 2021, thousands of cold-stunned sea turtles were in danger of drowning. The aquarium cared for over 1,700 of the reptiles.
Wildlife officials told Gilbert that because cold weather events are becoming more common, a facility was needed that could handle twice that number of turtles. The idea for the rescue center was born.
Opened in 1990, the aquarium added a wildlife rehabilitation component in 1993. The entertainment aspects of the aquarium support wildlife rescue.
The center is the largest coastal wildlife rescue program in Texas and one of the largest in the nation. Among the state-of-the-art veterinarian equipment is the only CT scanner in Texas specifically for wildlife. It does noninvasive diagnostics and groundbreaking research.
The rehabilitation center treats sea turtles, raptors, dolphins, shorebirds, and even ocelots, cats indigenous to South Texas. New arrivals to the Texas coast the center can handle are 2,000-pound manatees.
A visit to the center begins in the lobby, where X-rays show the insides of animals. Budding veterinarians can see the CT scanner and operating room. At the end of the hall is a pool large enough to hold several dolphins, sharks, or manatees. Around the corner are multiple tanks of the “hospital” where sea turtles get well.
The Wildlife Rescue Center is a short walk from the Texas State Aquarium in the North Beach area of Corpus Christi. The rehabilitation center opens daily from 11am to 4pm.
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This article appears in April 14 • 2023.
