Cold in Florida taking its Toll

[CWO3ROBBIE]

I stated to post his in my travel blog, but decided to put it here in hopes more people would see it.
Something totally unexpected, to me me at least, is happening here on the East coast of Florida.
Marine aniamals are starting to perish from the cold. I walked out to the bank of the Bannana River here near CocoA beach this afternoon and was very surprised. There are lots of dead fish littering the sand. There was even a sea turtle up on the sand. I nudged it with my shoe and it moved a little bit. Ok, so here I am with a member of an endangered species obiously in trouble and I have no idea what to do. Should I drag it further up on the sand? Should I put it back in the water? Should I just leave it alone and let nature take it's course?
I went to the park office and ask the attendent there what to do. He made a call and a little bit later a marine biologist called back. By that time we had found two more. The biologist said to bring them inside. Well, they are pretty small. So we got a large cooler and put the three in it and put it in the park office. I knew that the manitees come into the boat canals when the water gets cold, but they are mamals. I always thought that cold blooded animals were not much effected , long term, by cold. Guess I was wrong. Do we have any tbd members who have any special knowledge about this?

[Callipyge]

Oh wow, great photos, and good save Robby!

[CWO3ROBBIE]

Oranb, Thanks for the responses with the info. Its still pretty cold here. I'll post if I find out anything about them.

[Stir Young]

Thanks for posting this thread Robbie, and caring....sometimes when we are in some discomfort because of the weather we forget about it being a life or death situation for other species.

[Whiny Old Bastard]

It's happened before, it's rare, but it does happen.
Most of the fish and reptiles handle a brief cold snap fairly well, but this has gone on for days, that is the problem.

On the bright side, the bugs won't be as bad next summer. The cold kills the eggs and larva.

[Lowell Brandon]

The germs, and the politicians who love them.

[TeeBubbaDee]

OH, Lowell, I am pretty sure the first half of that equasion works, But sadly I think the politicians are frost proof.

[CWO3ROBBIE]

I read today that there are over 600 of the loggerheads that the state is trying to get transportation to move south. I also read that the last time we had a fish kill because of the cold was in 89. Here at Cocoa Beach we have had below freezing weather for about 5 nights. Set three new records. The buzzards are loving it. There were about twenty flying over the area today.

[Wylde Abandyn]

Is this somehow related to "global warming"? Doesn't compute to me. Could they have it backwards?

[darroll]

Yes,

basackwards.
lol

[CWO3ROBBIE]

Global warming does not mean that every area will get hotter every year. It means that the golbal temps will go up over a period of time. And it might accelerate over time. You will see wide fluctiations of weather patterns. I know many of you do not believe in it and I'm not going to change any minds, but since I do believe in it, couldn't the comments go by without commenting back. I'm old enough that it propably won't effect me much, but I do wish all the naysayers a long enough life to see what the out come might have been if they had taken it seriously. OK, Back down off my soap box.

[Wylde Abandyn]

Seems funny that they can't predict the weather a week in advance ... they're often off by ten degrees or more ... but, they say they CAN predict a one or two degree change over the next century ... hmmmm....

[Bull]

Nicely said Robbie