MARSHFIELD, Mass. — Thirty of the more than one hundred hypothermic sea turtles rescued on Cape Cod shores were flown down to Baltimore on Sunday morning on a journey to warmer waters and wellness.
After more than one hundred sea turtles were rescued within the last ten days, the New England Aquarium's sea turtle hospital in Quincy is at its capacity.
Biologists have re-warmed and stabilized the sea turtles and are looking to move them to other rehabilitation facilities throughout the East and Gulf Coasts.
Just before Thanksgiving, fifteen sea turtles were driven from the Quincy facility to the National Marine Life Center in Bourne, Mass.
Thanks to a generous volunteer pilot with the aviation group "Turtles Fly Too" (turtlesflytoo.org) from Marshfield, Mass., the thirty Kemp's Ridley turtles were en route to Baltimore by 11 a.m.
Over the past several years, the volunteer pilots of Turtles Fly Too have transported more than 500 endangered and threatened sea turtles from the New England Aquarium's care to dozens of rehabilitation facilities across the country, such as Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina for further rehabilitation and eventual release back into the wild.
According to the aquarium, sea turtles that wash up on the shores of the Bay State around this time of the year tend to be young Kemp Ridley turtles who ventured up to northern Atlantic waters to feed on crabs during the summer, but get stuck in cold waters once the temperatures begin to drop when fall rolls in.
The turtles then become stunned by the cold and unable to find their way out of the Cape Cod Bay, leading currents to eventually wash them ashore. The work the aquarium does is focused on re-warming these little creatures whose ideal water temperature is at about 70 degrees.
This specific species of sea turtles happens to be the most endangered type of sea turtles, which makes the work the NE Aquarium and Turtles Fly Too even more important.
Air transports are preferred over ground transports in transporting recovering sea turtles as they reduce the stress inflicted on the animals. Ground transportation takes anywhere from two to three days, while a flight is only hours long.
Volunteer pilots from both the business and general aviation communities donate their time and resources in helping endangered species of sea turtles make a steady recovery.