CCB MEDIA PHOTO
A loggerhead attempts to make it to the ocean off of West Dennis Beach.
DENNIS – Four endangered sea turtles, who were stranded last fall on Cape Cod due to hypothermia, were released yesterday at West Dennis Beach.
The three Kemp’s ridleys and one loggerhead were treated at the New England Aquarium’s sea turtle hospital for eight months before the release.
Connie Merigo, Director of the Rescue and Rehabilitation program for the New England Aquarium said that is an unusual amount of time for the turtles.
“If they’re here this long, that means that they were probably recovering from severe pneumonia and that was definitely the case with the three ridleys,” said Merigo.
A sea turtle gets released into the ocean off of West Dennis Beach.
“The loggerhead was even worse off. The loggerhead that was released today was the last live turtle to come in, and that was the end of December.”
The turtles were shown to children at the beach and were then placed about 25 yards from the surf, before they began making their way back into the ocean.
With the release of the four turtles, only two remain from last year’s record 733 cold-stunned sea turtles that stranded over six weeks last November and December on Cape Cod.
“These turtles in the fall when they wash ashore would die if there wasn’t intervention by the Massachusetts Audubon and the New England Aquarium,” said Merigo.
“It’s a great partnership to save endangered species and this is just sort of the highlight of it all.”
The average number of sea turtles treated during the annual event is around 90 but last year’s number was eight times the average.
Merigo added that the two sea turtles that remain at the aquarium are still fighting infections but staff hope to release both back into the ocean soon.
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