Photo: New England Aquarium
WEST DENNIS BEACH, Mass. — (WBZ NewsRadio) - Five more rehabilitated sea turtles are back in the waters off Cape Cod after they were found stranded last year.
The turtles spent the last few months at the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy. The group includes three critically endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtles, named Fideo, Garganelli and Shirataki, and two endangered green sea turtles, Pici and Couscous. The animals were treated for multiple symptoms, including pneumonia, dehydration, low heart-rates, and weight-loss.
All five sea turtles were tagged by researchers, who will next monitor their migratory patterns.
The group of sea turtles are five of the 518 creatures that were treated during the 2022 season by the staff at the New England Aquarium. Next, researchers will monitor their migratory patterns using satellite-tagging.
“This is the culmination of our work every year,” said Adam Kennedy, Director of Rescue and Rehabilitation at the New England Aquarium. “We’ve seen thousands of turtles enter our hospital from the shores of Cape Cod during the cold weather months. Our great reward is to put them back into their ocean home. fully recovered. This is why we do what we do so that we can help save these species so they continue on this earth for many more generations.”
This isn't the first release of the year and it won't be the last. There are 17 sea turtles that remain in the care of the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital; they're part of the group rescued from Cape Cod beaches between November 2022 and January of this year. The facility hopes to release the remaining turtles in the coming weeks.
This season was the third busiest on record for cold-stunned sea turtle strandings in Massachusetts. That number steadily rising from about 50 in 2000 to nearly 900 this year. Researchers predict we could see thousands of strandings by 2031.
Follow WBZ NewsRadio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iHeartmedia App | TikTok