{"id":325755,"date":"2025-12-02T09:16:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T09:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/325755\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T09:16:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T09:16:18","slug":"at-dawn-they-rescue-stranded-sea-turtles-on-cape-cod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/325755\/","title":{"rendered":"At dawn, they rescue stranded sea turtles on Cape Cod"},"content":{"rendered":"

The endangered sea turtles get trapped in the hook of Cape Cod as they head south, then suffer from hypothermia and exhaustion.<\/p>\n

\"AaronAaron Gouveia and his sons Thomas and Will patrol 2.5 miles of Truro’s Corn Hill Beach.
\nStan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

They should have banged a left at the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown. Now the winds and tide wash them ashore from November through about mid-January. <\/p>\n

Most are juveniles who have overstayed their welcome. They have been paralyzed by the decreasing temperature as the water temperature dips below 50 degrees in Cape Cod Bay.<\/p>\n

If these turtles are not rescued, they will die.<\/p>\n

On a recent Friday, with temperatures in the low 30s and winds gusting over 25 miles per hour, the experts at Mass Audubon predicted possible strandings.<\/p>\n

\"MassMass Audubon’s Aaron Gouveia, with the green turtle he rescues at Corn Hill Beach.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

And so the rescue mission begins.<\/p>\n

At 6 a.m., the early dawn is just appearing. The beaches are dotted with clumps of dark seaweed. Aaron Gouveia, and his sons Will, 17, and Thomas, 10, patrol Corn Hill Beach.<\/p>\n

Spotting turtles is hard, but this is not Gouveia\u2019s first rodeo.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that seaweed piles up, and everything looks like a turtle in the dark,\u201d says Gouveia, who is public relations director at Mass Audubon.<\/p>\n

\"AtAt First Encounter Beach, signs from the Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary give tips on rescuing a stunned sea turtle. The basic misconception by the public is to return them to the water.
\nStan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

The trio spread out and within 15 minutes, Gouveia sees something move near a clump that his youngest son has already passed. It turns out to be an exhausted green turtle raising a single flipper, just once, as if calling out for help.<\/p>\n

Then it stops moving. When Gouveia picks it up, it moves again. Will quickly strips off his lined winter coat with the Patriots logo, a hand-me-down from his maternal grandfather, to give it some warmth.<\/p>\n

\"RescuersRescuers carry a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle on Truro’s Corn Hill Beach.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

Gouveia calls the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary 24 hour hotline (508-349-2615) for a possible pickup. <\/p>\n

Normally when turtles are found, the sanctuary tells them to move the turtle above the high tide line, cover it with seaweed, and mark the spot so the sanctuary can find it.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s told that today they\u2019re swamped.<\/p>\n

He hands it off to Thomas to carry and the 10-year-old is ecstatic.<\/p>\n

Last year, Thomas found a Kemp\u2019s ridley turtle and even named it \u201cMr. Ridley,\u201d but it never showed signs of life. Earlier this month, his dad dismissed him from school early to go on patrol, but they got skunked. <\/p>\n

\"AA green turtle cold-stunned on Corn Hill Beach.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

This time, the turtle is coming back to life, to everyone\u2019s delight. The more Thomas walks the more the turtle reacts. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was squirming all around. I was worried I was going to drop it because my arms were getting so tired. It was a really cool experience,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

As the sun rises, they spot a Kemp\u2019s ridley that wasn\u2019t moving and had pink tinged skin, probably caused by exposure to the cold water. <\/p>\n

\"AA rescued green turtle is wrapped in a coat for transport from Truro Beach.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

Kemp\u2019s ridley\u2019s are critically endangered and the most rescued turtle on the Cape.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, another Kemp\u2019s ridley is discovered, partially burrowed in the sand. Thomas gladly surrenders his coat.<\/p>\n

They complete the patrol, three guys, shivering in sweat shirts. Like proud fathers, they each carry a turtle swaddled in their coats like newborn babies. <\/p>\n

\"AA Kemp’s ridley turtle wasn’t moving when it was found stranded on the beach in Truro. It later showed signs of life after it was rescued.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

A team of 200 volunteers will comb Cape beaches until mid-January. At Audubon\u2019s Wellfleet Sanctuary, biologist Michaela Wellman, weighs them and takes the temperature of the new arrivals.<\/p>\n

The sanctuary has processed 463 turtles since November: 395 Kemp\u2019s ridleys; 64 green; four loggerheads. As of Monday, 190 turtles had washed ashore since Thanksgiving, according to Audubon. <\/p>\n

The most in one season was 1,241 in 2014. Thirty years ago, an entire season would be just 100 turtles. On this day, volunteers rescued 55.<\/p>\n

\"AA green sea turtle is rescued after raising its flipper on a Truro beach.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

Turtle strandings have increased for a couple of reasons. Conservation efforts have led to more female turtles nesting on beaches in the south. The Gulf of Maine, which includes Cape Cod Bay, is one of the fastest warming bodies of water. This could attract more turtles to feast on the local seafood buffet, and stay longer. <\/p>\n

Global warming contributes to the increasing number of strandings. \u201cSince it\u2019s warmer up here, we get more turtles come up, so more get stuck,\u201d says Wellman.<\/p>\n

About 70 percent of the sea turtles that wash up are rehabilitated, according to Mass Audubon. <\/p>\n

At the Wellfleet sanctuary, an eight-person staff works in 55-degree rooms to prevent the cold-blooded turtles from warming up too quickly. <\/p>\n

\"AA Kemp’s ridley turtle gets a ride to the Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
\nStan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

The turtles are assigned a number, evaluated, and placed in a fitted used banana box, donated by local supermarkets.<\/p>\n

Volunteers then drive them to New England Aquarium\u2019s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy.<\/p>\n

Judy Shumway, has been volunteering to rescue and transport turtles for the last 10 years.<\/p>\n

The staff packs her car.<\/p>\n

\"ThreeThree sea turtles are rescued on Truro’s Corn Hill Beach by Mass Audubon’s Aaron Gouveia and his sons.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to save these guys and help the planet,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s even driven several hundred pound loggerhead sea turtles that don\u2019t fit in banana boxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re usually so quiet because they\u2019re stunned. They don\u2019t move a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rules of transport are strict. It should be quiet and cold.<\/p>\n

\"LilyLily Collyer, a field technician, processes a Kemp’s ridley Turtle at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

Drivers are not allowed to play any music . No Jimmy Buffett singing \u201cchanges in latitude,\u201d or even oldies like \u201cHappy Together\u201d by the Turtles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must be totally silent. You can\u2019t have the heat on. So, it\u2019s December and I\u2019ve got the windows open going up Route 3. People give you funny looks,\u201d she says with a laugh. <\/p>\n

\"AA Kemp’s ridley turtle gets measured at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff\" Michaela Wellman, a biologist and Mass Audubon volunteer coordinator, places a rescued sea turtle in with the group of others to be driven to New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff\"SanctuarySanctuary workers load rescued sea turtles into a volunteer’s car for the trip to the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy.Stan Grossfeld\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

Stan Grossfeld can be reached at stanley.grossfeld@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The endangered sea turtles get trapped in the hook of Cape Cod as they head south, then suffer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-325755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325755","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=325755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}