A loggerhead sea turtle stranded early in a previous season. Photo courtesy of Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
EASTHAM – This year’s sea turtle stranding season is officially here as Mass Audubon and the New England Aquarium confirm local strandings, with the first occurring last Thursday when a group of students found a green sea turtle on First Encounter Beach in Eastham.
Over the next several weeks, volunteers with Mass Audubon will be scouring beaches for cold stunned sea turtles, which become immobilized by hypothermia and other related conditions as changing sea temperatures affect their migrations south, leaving many trapped in Cape Cod Bay.
Organizational officials report they may find well over 1,000 stranded green, Kemp’s ridley, and loggerhead turtles over the coming weeks, which will be taken to the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital to undergo life-saving treatment.
In the event of encountering a cold stunned turtle, experts say to bring the turtle to the high tide line, cover it to protect it from the wind, and call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary hotline at 508-349-2615 for further instruction.
Stranded sea turtles experiencing cold stunning may appear lifeless, but many can still be saved. Quick action by members of the public can be the difference between life and death for a stranded turtle.
About Matthew Tomlinson
