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<\/p>\nCONEY ISLAND, Brooklyn (WABC) — Carried like a conquering hero to the shores of Coney Island, a small but mighty sea turtle named Pancake was returned to the sea.<\/p>\n
It’s a homecoming, you might say, cheered on by dozens of summer campers.<\/p>\n
“Everybody loves Pancake so much. And, like, we’re just all here watching him go into the ocean again,” said one summer camper.<\/p>\n
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It’s a story that could have ended differently. Pancake is a Kemp’s-Ridley turtle, the world’s smallest species of sea turtle and one of the most endangered. It was discovered washed-up on a beach on Cape Cod late last year, nearly frozen to death.<\/p>\n
It took months, but a team of marine biologists with the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society nursed the turtle back to health, led by Rob DiGiovanni.<\/p>\n
“We have to monitor their behavior and get them up to what we consider operating speed, where they’re eating, feeding on their own,” DiGiovanni said. “And Pancake was looking really well. And then time for us to go back out into the wild so they could do really well out there.”<\/p>\n
Maybe it was the salty air, the sandy surf, or the cheering kids, but whatever it was, Pancake made a floppy beeline to the sea with his shell and his satellite transmitter.<\/p>\n
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“It’s great that so many people came here that care about the environment,” one camper said. “Especially in this time. There are just people who actually care about the world, and it makes you happy, I guess.”<\/p>\n
The satellite transmitter will work for up to 90 days, giving marine biologists real-time data on where Pancake has wandered and clues as to turtle habitats in the waters around New York.<\/p>\n
Marine biologists say what they learn from saving Pancake will help preserve other forms of marine life.<\/p>\n
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Eyewitness News report N.J. Burkett: “They’re worth preserving because they’re cute. Let’s just come right out with it.”<\/p>\n
“Yes, I think that they’re very-especially sea turtles-they’re very charismatic,” said Maia Austin, Ph.D, of the Wildlife Conservation Society. “And I feel like people have a lot of strong feelings and attachments towards them. And I think, I agree, they’re very-especially Pancake-is very cute.”<\/p>\n
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