Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) Receives Gulf Guardian Award From EPA

ARK has made a significant impact to the environment by helping to preserve the survival of important native and endangered Gulf of Mexico species by their rescue efforts.A green sea turtle at the Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.

 

AUSTIN, Texas – The Environmental Protection Agency's Gulf of Mexico Program recently announced that the Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) located at The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, Texas will receive a Gulf Guardian Award for 2011 in the Civic/Nonprofit Category.

The awards ceremony will be held in conjunction with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Meeting on August 3, 2011, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Ballroom at the Westin New Orleans Canal Place in New Orleans.

The ARK’s mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and release injured and sick wildlife in the Coastal Bend of Texas. The ARK has rescued numerous marine animals, especially sea turtles and large aquatic birds and has educated the public on the hazards of confronting these animals and the human actions and coastal changes that affect their natural habitat.

The ARK is operated largely by volunteers, utilities supplied by the Marine Science Institute, and donations from the general public. The ARK is the only entity of its kind in the area that rescues animals of all types from baby sparrows to 200-pound sea turtles. Since the early 1980’s, it has admitted thousands of birds and sea turtles, hundreds of terrestrial turtles, tortoises, and small mammals and dozens of marine mammals.

The ARK has made a significant impact to the environment by helping to preserve the survival of important native Gulf species and endangered Gulf species by their rescue efforts. They release those that would not have survived back to the wild and help to maintain and increase populations of important marine species. The ARK tags all of their turtles with pit tags on release and some with satellite tags and have tracked some turtles for as long as 550 days. Some of the birds are banded. ARK volunteers are trained to do daily sea turtle nesting patrols during the nesting season.

The Gulf of Mexico Program initiated the Gulf Guardian awards in 2000 as a way to recognize and honor the businesses, community groups, individuals and agencies that are taking positive steps to keep the Gulf healthy, beautiful and productive. For more information on the program and the awards, visit the the Gulf of Mexico Program Web site.

For more information regarding ARK contact: Tony Amos, Marine Science Institute, 361-749-6793, afamos@mail.utexas.edu.