For Immediate Release, March 29, 2021
| Contact: | Joanie Steinhaus, Gulf Program Director, joanie@seaturtles.org, 512-417-7741 |
Turtles About Town to Install 50th Kemp’s Ridley Statue on Galveston Island
GALVESTON, Texas — Galveston Island will give a warm welcome to another community member this week as Turtle Island Restoration Network and Clay Cup Studios install the fiftieth Kemp’s ridley sea turtle statue to its Turtles About Town project. The turtle, named “D. Gale,” will be installed at 2228 Seawall Blvd. in Galveston on Tuesday, March 30th at 4:15pm. Turtles About Town representatives and the statue artist and sponsor will be available for interviews.
“This is a huge milestone for our Turtles About Town program,” said Joanie Steinhaus, gulf program director of Turtle Island Restoration Network. “Our Texas community has shined through during a difficult year and we appreciate our community for stepping up to protect the critically endangered sea turtles we share our home with.”
Created in 2018, Turtles About Town is a community art project that showcases the City of Galveston and the conservation efforts of nonprofit Turtle Island Restoration Network to protect endangered sea turtles on the upper Texas coast. Statues are designed by local artists and sponsored by local businesses and individuals, each representing a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the Texas state sea turtle and the world’s most endangered sea turtle. A virtual tour and a downloadable map of the statue locations is available on Turtle Island Restoration Network’s website.
“It has been inspiring to see so many talented artists and wonderful business owners come together to provide the public with something that creates joy, as well as brings beauty to our wonderful island,” said Amy Owens, owner of Clay Cup Studios. “I feel very blessed to be a part of it all.”
As sea turtle nesting season on the upper Texas coast starts April 1, Turtle Island Restoration Network asks residents and visitors to call the Texas sea turtle hotline, 1-866-TURTLE-5 (1-866-887-8535) if they see a sea turtle, a nest, or tracks on the beach. Turtle Island Restoration Network has sponsored the 1-866-TURTLE-5 sea turtle hotline for the Texas coast for more than ten years, and continues to raise awareness of the need to report any nesting, injured or deceased sea turtle to the hotline along the entire Texas coast.
Turtle Island Restoration Network is a nonprofit organization that works to protect and restore populations of endangered sea turtles and marine biodiversity on the Texas coast and throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Learn more at www.seaturtles.org/gulf.
Clay Cup Studios is a Galveston Art Studio that offers paint your own pottery, canvas painting, glass fusion and Art’tini. Learn more at www.claycupstudios.com.
