Hundreds of turtles with hypothermia washing up on Cape Cod beaches
The frigid Northeast temperatures of the last several days have accelerated the arrival of sea turtles afflicted with life-threatening hypothermia at Cape Cod beaches, requiring more than 250 of them to be rescued so far, the New England Aquarium said Monday.
Most of the 257 cold-stunned turtles the aquarium is treating – the large majority of them endangered Kemp’s ridley turtles – are suffering from pneumonia, dehydration, sepsis or traumatic injuries, the facility’s Dr. Melissa Joblon said.
Around 100 of the hard-shelled patients were rescued in the last two days.
“With winds increasing and temperatures dropping, we have started to see more sea turtles enter the hospital in the last week,’’ said Adam Kennedy, the aquarium’s director of rescue and rehabilitation.
The stranding of hundreds of hypothermic turtles on Cape Cod beaches has become a regular phenomenon on fall and early winter because a rapid change in water temperatures and wind patterns keeps them from leaving Cape Cod Bay, where they become sick and unable to feed.
Many of them need weeks and even months of treatment before they can be returned to the ocean, the aquarium said.
Turtles are not the only sea creatures enduring hardships around Cape Cod. Strandings of marine mammals such as dolphins, porpoises, seals and whales have risen dramatically over the last few years, the Cape Cod Times, part of the Paste BN Network, reported.
This story was updated to add a video.