Sea Turtle Rescue
of Six Sea Turtles
It was a summertime send-off on Cape Cod on Wednesday as six rehabilitated sea turtles were successfully released back into the wild.
The New England Aquarium released six rescued and rehabilitated sea turtles Wednesday morning on a south-facing mid-Cape beach. The two loggerhead sea turtles and four Kemp’s ridley sea turtles all stranded late last autumn on various Cape Cod beaches due to hypothermia.
These half-dozen animals are among the last of more than 300 endangered and threatened sea turtles that the Aquarium treated and released after the cold-stunning season last November and December. These turtles had particularly challenging and chronic medical conditions that took many months for the Aquarium’s dedicated biologists and veterinarians to successfully care for.
The two loggerhead sea turtles are outfitted with satellite tags, which will transmit their locations and other valuable data.
Veterinarians and volunteers lift the sea turtles from their boxes and place them on the beach.
A loggerhead sea turtle outfitted with a satellite tag crawls down the beach.
A small crowd gathered around the release site to observe the spectacle and cheer on the turtles as they made their way down the beach and into the ocean.
A Summertime Send-Off for Sea Turtles!
For more than 25 years, the New England Aquarium has partnered with Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary to rescue, rehabilitate, and release thousands of endangered and threatened sea turtles.
In the past decade alone, staff members from our Quincy Animal Care Facility have treated thousands of Kemp’s ridley, green, and loggerhead sea turtles and successfully released up to 85% of them. These numbers are especially significant considering Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are the most endangered sea turtles in the world.