The New England Aquarium is treating more than 200 sea turtles that have washed ashore on Massachusetts beaches as winter-like temps settle across the state.<\/p>\n
The turtles were rescued by staff and volunteers from Massachusetts Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and arrived at the aquarium\u2019s sea turtle hospital in Quincy on Nov. 7.<\/p>\n
The creatures are cold-stunned, a condition in which sea turtles become very weak and inactive from exposure to cold temperatures, according to NOAA Fisheries<\/a>.<\/p>\n The rescuers have been scouting Cape Cod Bay beaches for cold-stunned turtles and sending them to the facility for warmth and care for life-threatening medical conditions resulting from hypothermia and the inability to feed or swim.<\/p>\n Aquarium\u2019s Director of Rescue and Rehabilitation Adam Kennedy explained the situation in a Nov. 20 statement<\/a>, calling it a \u201csea turtle stranding season.\u201d<\/p>\n This annual occurrence happens every fall and early winter, causing hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles to wash up on Cape Cod beaches because of rapidly changing water temperatures and wind patterns that prevent the turtles from escaping the hook-like area of Cape Cod Bay and becoming hypothermic. <\/p>\n \u201cWe need to pace ourselves for likely big numbers this year,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cThanks to decades of doing this conservation work, the New England Aquarium is well positioned to ensure high-quality care for the weeks and months ahead\u201d<\/p>\n Upon arrival at the facility, these turtles receive a physical exam, heart rate and respiration assessment, wound care as needed and a trial swim. The turtles also get X-rays to assess their lung condition and a look for any bone fractures. <\/p>\n Critically endangered Kemp\u2019s ridley turtles<\/a>, which are the majority of the patients, and green sea turtles receive antibiotics and are provided replacement fluids as prescribed by veterinarians. <\/p>\n \u201cMany of these sea turtles suffer from chronic medical conditions \u2014 including pneumonia, bone infection, and sepsis \u2014 and may require months of treatment before they can be released into the ocean, which is always our ultimate goal,\u201d Director of Animal Health at the Aquarium Dr. Melissa Joblon said in a statement.<\/p>\n As the aquarium\u2019s sea turtle hospital reaches full capacity, the team said it is working closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s (NOAA) Fisheries Service to transfer turtles to partner organizations to continue rehabilitation and make room for new arrivals. <\/p>\n This week, the aquarium said that the global nonprofit organization Greater Food Charities flew 35 turtles to two facilities in North Carolina: Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Center and the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.<\/p>\n New England Aquarium said that \u201cthe most seriously ill turtles\u201d will remain in their care where many will complete their full rehabilitation process before they are released back into the ocean in the spring and summer months.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Aquarium is treating more than 200 sea turtles that have washed ashore on Massachusetts beaches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[8731,47406,79,36651,201],"class_list":["post-308143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-boston","tag-new-england-aquarium","tag-science","tag-turtle","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}