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Who knew, that Elon Musk had such a big heart.
I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news, but Texas is facing a winter weather disaster.
Power, water … and more importantly, heating, has been shut down for days throughout the state, as temperatures hit an unprecedented -20C.
It’s a monumental catastrophe, and everybody is blaming everybody.
An outlier of this ongoing frigid weather and blackouts, is that it’s a dangerous combination for animals like sea turtles, which have a tendency to get cold-stunned.
When sea turtles get cold-stunned, they essentially get paralyzed, preventing them from lifting their heads out of the water to breathe.
It is then up to organizations such as Sea Turtle, Inc. to ensure that the endangered animals are retrieved from the beach and kept safe, Teslarati.com reported.Â
There’s only one problem, thousands of these turtles have been rescued, and kept safe in Sea Turtle’s Boca Chica facility. But there is no power, and naturalists are struggling to maintain a temperature that will keep the turtles safe.
A desperate call for help was issued, and someone with deep pockets and a love for sea turtles responded — none other than SpaceX/Tesla boss Elon Musk, who just happens to be a neighbor.
Within hours, stunned workers at the Sea Turtle facility watched as a massive industrial generator was unhitched to keep the lights and the heating on.
Automakers such as Ford, Chrysler, GM … take note. When America needs help, step up to the plate!
Strangely enough, SpaceX’s employees in Boca Chica are actually trained to handle cold-stunned sea turtles.
This was something mentioned by Wendy Knight, executive director of Sea Turtle Inc. in a statement to ValleyCentral News. “SpaceX has now trained its employees to react during cold-stunned events,†she said in a previous statement.Â
Elaborating further, Knight added that SpaceX actually allows them to use its drone equipment and ATVs to patrol for turtle activity before and after every launch.
SpaceX was also in constant communication with Sea Turtle Inc. before and during the Boca Chica site’s construction.
“It’s an unprecedented event,†said Knight, adding about 100 to 500 sea turtles will typically wash up on Texas beaches due to the cold each year, but this month’s storm has taken a much greater toll on the local population.
The state was hammered this week by a days-long storm that has overtaxed its power grid, leaving millions of Texans without heat, light or electricity.
“Every 15 minutes or less there’s another truck or SUV that pulls up,†Ed Caum, executive director of the centre, told the Associated Press.
‘This is what putting passion into action means and the service they provided us this morning will save countless turtles and will be something we are truly grateful for.’
Wendy Knight
Caum added that he does not expect to save them all.
Gilberto Salinas, the former executive vice president of the Brownsville economic development council, shared some insights about the planning involved in the buildout of SpaceX’s Starship facility.Â
“We knew that the project was going to have to go public but essentially it was going to have to go through a public hearing, two separate federal public hearings.
“It would be required to have special lighting that they would have to use at night that way whenever the baby sea turtles would hatch, they wouldn’t get disoriented and think that the SpaceX — or operation’s lights is the moon,†he said.Â
Knight told CBS News that SpaceX provided the organization with a large enough generator to restore power to its main facility allowing the group to heat water for the turtles.
“We do not yet know if this was in time to save our patients in the hospital but this is a huge step forward,†Knight told the outlet.Â
“This is what putting passion into action means and the service they provided us this morning will save countless turtles and will be something we are truly grateful for.â€
One woman on Twitter posted a picture showing dozens of turtles loaded into her mother’s Subaru.
‘They rescued one turtle yesterday who is over 100 years old and approximately 350 pounds!!!’ @lara_hand tweeted.
Gina McLellan, a 71-year-old retired professor and longtime volunteer, told the Washington Post that it is a “huge community effort.â€Â
“We very often don’t even think about the [cold’s] impact on animals, because we’re so worried about our own electricity and water. With this kind of event, it’s a classic display of humanity toward animals,†she said.
Knight said the efforts of volunteers eventually will not matter unless they get more help from the power grid in order to help warm the turtles. “If we don’t get some relief from a power standpoint, we’re not going to be able to sustain this,†she said.
Sources: Teslarati.com, Global News, Daily Mail, CBS News, Associated Press
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