Staff and volunteers release eight rehabilitated sea turtles into Nantucket Sound. Photos courtesy of the New England Aquarium
WEST DENNIS – After months of rehabilitation, the New England Aquarium has conducted its first sea turtle release of the summer and returned eight critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles to the waters off of Cape Cod after recovering from life-threatening conditions sustained during the past sea turtle stranding season.
Over the fall and winter months, the Aquarium treated 394 live turtles brought in by staff and volunteers with Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary with hypothermia-related conditions including pneumonia and dehydration as a result of being trapped in the frigid waters of Cape Cod Bay.
Staff, volunteers, and interns were on-site at West Dennis Beach for the release, during which the turtles, named Electric Daisy, Dragon’s Breath, Lady Slipper, Dahlia, Cosmos, Catmint, Turtlehead, and Lily Pad in keeping with the Aquarium tradition of naming turtles rejoined the wild via Nantucket sound.
“The first release of the summer is always a special time,” said Adam Kennedy, the Aquarium’s Director of Rescue and Rehabilitation. “Remembering how these turtles pass through our doors in the late fall – some of which appear lifeless, all of them needing our care – and having them reach this point of heading home to the ocean is an amazing feeling.”
“We strive to ensure this species continues to exist,” he said, “and our conservation efforts and research are helping to do just that.”
Cold stunning events are exacerbated by the climate crisis, joining adverse interactions with fishermen, ocean pollution, and habitat degradation as threats to Kemp’s ridley sea turtles in the wild.
About Matthew Tomlinson
