Juno Beach, Florida – Twenty Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles are being rehabilitated in Florida after the frigid waters off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, left them suffering from frostbite, pneumonia and abrasions.
The 24 endangered sea turtles arrived at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Florida, on December 9, thanks to the nonprofit organization LightHawk. last year, The center welcomed another group of cold-stunned turtles Which was launched into the Atlantic Ocean months later.
They are expected to remain at the facility until spring, when they will be released into the Atlantic Ocean to return to New England, said Heather Barron, chief science officer and veterinarian at Loggerhead.
She said the turtles suffer from a condition called cold shock, which requires treatment with antibiotics, fluids and nebulization.
Cold shock occurs at extremely cold temperatures and causes cold-blooded sea turtles to become lethargic and lose the ability to move. Kemp’s ridley, loggerhead and green sea turtles are commonly affected.
Turtles migrate north in the summer, and many get stuck as they head south on the Cape Cod Peninsula, according to a New England Aquarium fact sheet. As ocean temperatures drop, turtles become lethargic, emaciated, and hypothermic. They began washing up on the beach, where volunteers rescued them and took them to the sea turtle hospital.
A number of the turtles were sent to Florida to relieve crowding at the New England Aquarium, said Pam Bechtold Snyder, director of marketing and communications at the Boston facility. Most of those turtles were stranded during strong westerly winds on Nov. 28 and underwent sorting at the Boston facility, Snyder said.
She added that they were being sent to Florida to make room for more turtles coming from Cape Cod. So far, during the annual cold snap that began on November 7, they have treated 472 turtles suffering from hypothermia.
Hospital staff are working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service to transport the turtles to various sea turtle hospitals, including Loggerhead, Snyder said.
“These guys are in very critical health when they get here, and they’re undergoing extensive treatment,” Barron said of the turtles sent to Juno Beach. “They’re exposed to the aerosols where they’re actually breathing in the drug. This helps their lungs do their job better.”
When the turtles arrive in groups at Loggerhead, staff give them names, according to a theme, Barron said.
“In this case, it’s Greek mythology,” Barron said. “So we have Pandora and Gaia and Persephone and Helios and all these guys.”
____
Frisaro reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.