The Texas State Aquarium’s Wildlife Rescue Center is bigger and better than ever. In late 2017, the center completed a $45,000 expansion and rebranded itself as the Wildlife Rescue Center. It is now the only federally licensed facility in Texas that can handle birds, turtles, and marine mammals.
Formerly known as Second Chances Wildlife Rehabilitation, the center opened in 2005 and has treated thousands of wildlife, primarily shorebirds and raptors, with the occasional sea turtle and marine mammal patients.
After its expansion, the state-of-the-art facility now has 18 new tanks and pool systems for all of its sea turtle rescues, a major increase from the six tanks it used to have. The tanks and pools hold 5,500 gallons of seawater in a 2,000-square-foot facility, which can now house more than double the number of turtles.
The refurbished surgical suite has been upgraded with new technology, including a carbon dioxide laser used for invasive operations such as removing tumors.
A Wildlife Rescue van and a 24-foot boat used for rescuing and transporting animals expands the facility’s reach farther than ever. The boat, in particular, speeds up the center’s response to animal recoveries in oil spills.
The center’s latest additions provide the resources it needs for rescuing, healing, and releasing injured wildlife in the Coastal Bend.
When a new patient is brought in to the center, the highly trained staff stabilizes the animal, evaluates its condition, and provides comprehensive medical treatment. Services range from simply providing a safe, temporary refuge for an exhausted migratory shorebird to acute medical care for an ill dolphin.
The most common injuries to shorebirds, raptors, turtles and other marine animals brought into the center come from being hit by cars, entangled in fishing line, or orphaned by their parents at too young an age. 
The center also treats green sea turtles infected with fibropapillomatosis, a herpes virus prevalent in that species. The facility keeps the turtles separated in case the condition is contagious — and the new expansion allows this separation to be possible.
The facility’s abilities were tested over the winter, which was more frigid than usual: Three freezes brought on three cold-stunning events, which injured a record number of turtles. A total of 3,419 cold-stunned sea turtles were found in Texas with 2,681 of them in the Coastal Bend. The Wildlife Rescue Center alone rehabilitated and released more than 1,000 sea turtles.
“This latest intake of sea turtle species signals a major milestone for our rapidly expanding Wildlife Rescue program,” said Jesse Gilbert, senior vice president and chief operating officer at the Texas State Aquarium. “We’ve rescued a greater quantity and diversity of sea turtles in the past several months than we have in all the years before.”
The Texas State Aquarium’s Wildlife Rescue Center is located at 4230 Rincon Road across from the aquarium. For more information, visit texasstateaquarium.org/rescue.