{"id":306642,"date":"2026-07-27T15:43:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/306642\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T15:43:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:43:51","slug":"ocean-bound-endangered-kemps-ridley-sea-turtle-pancake-returns-home-after-rehabilitation-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/306642\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean bound: Endangered Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle Pancake returns home after rehabilitation \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pancake, an endangered Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle, made a splash when it returned to its natural habitat on July 24 after eight months of rehabilitation at the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society\u2019s Sea Turtle Care Center (AMSEAS) in Westhampton Beach on Long Island.<\/p>\n

Spectators \u2014 including representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Department of State, the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, the Wildlife Conservation Society, environmental organizations, elected officials, New York Aquarium camp participants and youth leaders \u2014 cheered as the chelonian crawled across Coney Island beach and into the Atlantic Ocean, paddling into freedom.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pancake dashes back into the ocean after eight months of rehabilitation.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Pancake, an endangered Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle, returned to its natural habitat after eight months of rehabilitation.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

The 2- to 5-year-old turtle was found suffering from cold-stunning, a form of hypothermia that occurs when cold-blooded turtles fail to migrate south before northern waters drop below about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, affecting their ability to swim and survive. Pancake was discovered in November 2025 at Duck Harbor Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. After being rescued by the Massachusetts Audubon Society and receiving emergency triage and medical treatment at the New England Aquarium, the turtle was transferred to AMSEAS\u2019 turtle care facility in Westhampton Beach, where it underwent months of specialized rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

The Kemp\u2019s ridley is the smallest sea turtle species, measuring about 2 feet in carapace length, and the most critically endangered. Pancake\u2019s sex remains unknown, as determining a turtle\u2019s gender requires blood testing that is unnecessary during rehabilitation. Pancake was one of 25 sea turtles transferred to AMSEAS during the last cold-stunning season and one of 125 sea turtles the organization has treated since 2020.<\/p>\n

Unlike other sea turtles, the Kemp\u2019s ridley is the only species that nests during the day. Male Kemp\u2019s ridleys never return to shore unless they are injured or sick, and the species is the only sea turtle with an almost perfectly circular carapace, or upper shell.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the care of the five-member AMSEAS team and a slew of volunteers, the 11-pound turtle made a full recovery, regaining strength on a healthy diet of shrimp and clams while demonstrating strong swimming behavior.<\/p>\n

Robert A. DiGiovanni, founder and chief scientist of AMSEAS, told Brooklyn Paper that Pancake, which now has a satellite tag attached to its shell to track its location and the surrounding water temperature, is the 113th animal the organization has returned to the wild. Last year, the organization also released another Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle, Elton<\/a>, at Coney Island Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have a couple that are at our facility, so we have about three more that are back at our facility that are up for release soon,\u201d DiGiovanni said. \u201cThis is a success story where we\u2019re able to release an endangered Kemp\u2019s ridley turtle into the wild, working with our partners here, Wildlife Conservation Society, and it\u2019s showing how you can bring people together to try and make a positive impact on the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Pancake is the 113th animal Robert DiGiovanni\u2019s organization has returned to the wild.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"New York Secretary of State Walter Mosley (right) helped carry Pancake to the beach before its release.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Pancake\u2019s release also served as a celebration of the New York State Environmental Protection Fund, which supports ocean conservation, wildlife rehabilitation, marine science and coastal restoration through its Ocean and Great Lakes Program.<\/p>\n

The Environmental Protection Fund remains the state\u2019s primary source of funding for projects that protect and restore New York\u2019s marine ecosystems, highlighting the ecological importance of the New York Bight, a marine ecosystem stretching from Cape May, New Jersey, to Montauk, New York. The region provides important habitat and migration routes for endangered sea turtles, whales, dolphins, sharks, rays, seabirds and countless fish species.<\/p>\n

New York Secretary of State Walter Mosley said Pancake\u2019s release symbolized the collaborative effort between the state and environmental organizations to protect the environment.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still care about the preservation of our environment, regardless of what\u2019s happening elsewhere in our country, and that we are still willing to put up the resources necessary to give those stewards within our conservancy groups, within our office of environmental conservation, or even within our department, the tools necessary to deal with these issues in real time,\u201d Mosley told Brooklyn Paper, noting Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s record investment in the Environmental Protection Fund because she recognized the importance of preserving the ecosystem and wildlife.<\/p>\n

\"\"New York Aquarium camp participants cheered on Pancake as it returned to its natural habitat.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"New York Aquarium camp participants cheered on Pancake as it returned to its natural habitat.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Shane Weeks, co-founder and director of research and education at the Metoac Indigenous Collective, and Tecumseh Ceaser, the collective\u2019s director of education and strategic planning, sent Pancake off with an Indigenous blessing, singing a song in Algonquian, the language of the Shinnecock Nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the way we send off relatives that are on a journey,\u201d Weeks explained. \u201cThere are so many people that are working to help protect our relatives, and we say in our way that if something happens to our relatives, our non-human kin, it happens to us,\u201d Weeks said. \u201cSo it\u2019s very important for us to create awareness around the issues that are facing our relatives, our non-human relatives, and be able to step in and maintain balance within the environment where we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The collective regularly collaborates with AMSEAS, educating the public about environmental water concerns and the sacred connection between Indigenous people and turtles and whales. Members also perform blessings when dead whales wash ashore.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually when we do work with [AMSEAS], it\u2019s during the necropsies. So that\u2019s when the whales have passed. We do a ceremony for them, so it\u2019s nice to be able to do work where it\u2019s not a funeral, and you get to see an extension of an animal\u2019s life that\u2019s been rehabbed,\u201d Ceaser said.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Daly, senior policy adviser at The Nature Conservancy of New York, told Brooklyn Paper that Pancake\u2019s successful rehabilitation and release were a testament to the collaborative efforts of government agencies and environmental and maritime organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not often a tangible thing where you can see this is what the Environmental Protection Fund is doing and what our partners\u2019 work is. A lot of it\u2019s intangible. So to be able to see and actually physically celebrate something like Pancake returning to the water was really, really special,\u201d Daly said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Robert A. DiGiovanni, Tecumseh Ceaser and Shane Weeks sent off Pancake with an Indigenous blessing.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Pancake, an endangered Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle, returned to its natural habitat after eight months of rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

Glen Cove resident Michelle Massarone volunteers with AMSEAS every Thursday. She told Brooklyn Paper volunteers do not need prior experience. AMSEAS teaches them how to feed the turtles, administer supplements such as liver pills and vitamins, measure them and observe their behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned so much about sea turtles; caring for them, and then get to see them released in the ocean,\u201d Massarone said. \u201cI go every Thursday; my Turtle Thursday.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

She urged beachgoers to call the New York state 24-hour stranding hotline at 631-369-9829 if they spot cold-stunned sea turtles on the beach.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens is the water\u2019s so cold, and their heart rate slows down, and then they can\u2019t move their flippers, so they can\u2019t swim, and then they get [washed] on the beach. [While] they look dead, they\u2019re cold. That\u2019s why they call it cold-stunned, because they\u2019re frozen,\u201d Massarone explained.<\/p>\n

Dr. Maia Austin, a postdoctoral researcher with the New York Bight Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told Brooklyn Paper the event gave the public a glimpse into the offshore world of turtles, sharks, fish, whales and dolphins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of cool wildlife in the area that people maybe don\u2019t know about or don\u2019t get to see regularly if they\u2019re not going offshore,\u201d Austin said, noting Pancake\u2019s rehabilitation highlighted the importance of protecting endangered species like Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we lose any single species, it\u2019s really upsetting for that species, but also for the whole ecosystem because each of them plays a role, so I feel like it\u2019s really important to have species that we put extra attention into to try to protect to make sure that everything can thrive in a healthy way,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pancake, an endangered Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle, made a splash when it returned to its natural habitat on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[71781,98,100,99,119,71652,3242,116055,8950,9,5206,24,116056,12,370,63,116057,116058,116059,116060],"class_list":["post-306642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-atlantic-marine-conservation-society","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-coney-island","tag-endangered-species","tag-environment","tag-kemps-ridley-sea-turtle","tag-marine-life","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-aquarium","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-state-department-of-environmental-conservation-commissioner","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-pancake","tag-pancake-the-kemps-ridley-sea-turtle","tag-sea-turtle","tag-wildlife-conservation-societyu2019s-new-york-aquarium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}