As the annual sea turtle stranding season ramps up, the New England Aquarium is treating a large number of hypothermic or cold-stunned sea turtles that have washed onto Massachusetts shores in critical condition.
The turtles began to strand on Cape Cod in early November. Staff and volunteers from Massachusetts Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary have been walking the beaches along Cape Cod Bay in search of cold-stunned turtles and transporting the animals to the Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy, MA, where they are treated for life-threatening medical conditions resulting from hypothermia and the inability to feed.
So far this season, Aquarium staffers have treated 214 sea turtles: 189 critically endangered Kemp’s ridley turtles, 19 green turtles, and six loggerheads. In an unusual occurrence, five cold-stunned sea turtles have washed ashore in Hull and Hingham this season, which could indicate that more turtles in Massachusetts Bay are inhabiting a wider range of locations.
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