Courtesy of Mystic Aquarium
HYANNIS – The first patients of the Connecticut-based Mystic Aquarium’s recently reopened Milne Ocean Science and Conservation Center are seven Kemp’s ridley sea turtles rescued in Massachusetts.
Despite being a critically endangered species, the Kemp’s ridley sea turtles make up a large amount of the sea turtles found cold-stunned this year.
Cold-stunning is a type of hypothermia that can occur in cold-blooded reptiles after a sudden drop in temperature leaves them unable to reach warmer waters.
The seven turtles found by Mass Audubon volunteers were among those cold-stunned by the recent temperature changes.
They were stabilized at the National Marine Life Center in Bourne in preparation for the care that they will receive at the Mystic Aquarium.
Dr. Allison Tuttle, Vice President of Zoological Operations at Mystic Aquarium stressed the importance of getting these turtles healthy and back in the ocean.
The critically endangered status of the species, “[makes] the rescue and rehabilitation of each individual vital to the species’ survival,” she said.
Maura MacDonald, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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