The turtles can survive a long time in the cold water, said Audubon science coordinator Mark Faherty. But, if they get stuck on a beach in freezing air, they can die quickly. So the group monitors the winds and high tides and, sometimes, sends volunteers out in the middle of the night to search for turtles with flashlights.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes they\u2019re walking the beaches at one in the morning into a freezing, cold wind,\u201d said Faherty, who said the group has some volunteers in their eighties, who loyally patrol some of the longest, remotest beaches. Specially trained staff and volunteers then load each turtle into a banana box for transport, sometimes bringing up to 30 a day to the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get them up to the New England Aquarium, mostly via volunteer drivers who have to keep their cars cool. They can\u2019t blast their rock music, you know. You have to maintain sort of a clinical environment in your car,\u201d said Faherty.<\/p>\n
There, the New England aquarium staff conduct sea turtle \u201ctriage.\u201d The animals must be warmed up slowly and reintroduced to sea water over days, said Adam Kennedy, the hospital\u2019s director. All the turtles get radiographs and exams with some receiving injected fluids and antibiotics as well. Many are suffering from dehydration or are skinny from malnourishment, when they arrive. Some have to be treated for pneumonia from breathing cold ocean spray, while others get infections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink of us as the emergency room for a big hospital,\u201d said Kennedy \u201cWe\u2019re the emergency room and the ICU kind of all wrapped into one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the hospital can only handle long term care for about 65 turtles, the aquarium works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to quickly dispatch recovering turtles to partnering animal rehabilitation centers up and down the east coast, and along the Gulf of Mexico as far west as Missouri.<\/p>\n
The turtles are transported in vans and sometimes even flown by volunteer pilots in private planes to the more distant rehab sites.<\/p>\n
Lucky initially stayed at the hospital because of severe pneumonia, then needed surgery for an infected joint, a common problem for turtles who have been stranded. The operation was performed by a top surgeon. Veterinarian Tuxbury said that a board-certified orthopedic veterinary surgeon from Tufts University volunteers his time to perform needed sea turtle joint fixes.<\/p>\n
Hospital staff move Pretty Princess, a rescued loggerhead turtle. Photograph: Vanessa Kahn\/New England Aquarium<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing network of sea turtle people,\u201d said Kennedy of all the volunteers and conservationists who contribute to the annual rescue effort. \u201cAnd we all have one focus: which is to get the turtles back to the wild.\u201d<\/p>\n
For turtles brought in alive the survival rates are remarkably high \u2013 about 85%. Turtles who are sent to southern rehabilitation locations can be released as early as midwinter. This year aquarium staff drove 18 turtles south from New England for spring releases in North Carolina. Four more batches have been released from beaches on the south side of Cape Cod this summer.<\/p>\n
![\"Rescued](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Turtles_released_in_Cape_Cod_--613b98a2-0a28-4280-a3ea-54cf43d04989-1.0.0000000.jpg\")
Rescued turtles released in Cape Cod<\/p>\n