Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital and Educational Outreach Center    

The Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research (GCSTR), created in 2019 at Texas A&M University at Galveston, addresses a lack of data and research concerning sea turtle populations along the Texas coast and the western Gulf area, and provides vital leadership in sea turtle preservation efforts across the region.  The Center's conservation activities have grown to include the Sea Aggie Sea Turtle Patrol and the operation of a temporary hospital facility to rescue and rehabilitate turtles. Established as the federally permitted lead on the upper and middle Texas coast for rescue, recovery, and rehabilitation, the Center has rescued and responded to more than 500 turtles and treated near 300 in its temporary hospital facility.

 Currently housed in the Wetlands Center, the temporary hospital facility activities have outgrown its space. The existing facility -- a pre-engineered metal structure of about 1,700 gross square feet -- met an immediate need to stage, respond, and treat animals. For long-term intervention and care, the facility is not ideal for the treatment and segregation of turtles that are diagnosed with the highly contagious and tumor-causing fibropapillomatosis (FP) virus.  The new facility will allow the Center to grow its conservation mission, engage the public with conservation efforts, and create an operational revenue stream through eco-tourism.