Documentary on Record Cold-Stunned Turtle Season to Debut in Dennis

COURTESY OF THE WELLFLEET BAY WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

DENNIS – More than 200 cold stunned sea turtles have washed up on Cape Cod beaches this season but it pales in comparison to the record 2014 season which will be a focus of a documentary film making its world premiere on the Cape next month.

“Cold Stunned: Sea Turtles on the Brink” will debut January 14 at 4 p.m. at the Cape Cinema in Dennis.

The film follows the work of Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and the efforts of its staff and volunteers to rescue more than 1,200 sea turtles that stranded on bayside beaches due to hypothermia or cold stunning.

Filmmakers Michele Gomes and Jennifer Ting, of the Seattle-based Interchange Media, chronicled the frantic period and also became rescues themselves as they helped to retrieve about 40 turtles.

The majority of the cold stunned turtles are Kemp’s ridleys, the world’s most endangered sea turtle species, which get caught in Cape Cod Bay as water temperatures drop in the fall.

Tickets for the film and a following panel discussion are $15. Admission for the film and an after-film reception are $100.

All proceeds benefit the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and to purchase tickets click here.