With the annual sea turtle cold-stunning season coming to a close in mid-January, there are still dozens of turtles who are in critical condition at the Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy.
Cold-stunning occurs when turtles become stranded in waters that are too cold for them, which often happens in fall and early winter in Cape Cod Bay.
Wildlife officials say they treated almost 400 live sea turtles, but 53 of them required longer-term treatment for life-threatening medical conditions.
“This is the time of year when we shift our operations from triaging and stabilizing hundreds of turtles to the next critical phase,” said Adam Kennedy, Director of Rescue and Rehabilitation at the New England Aquarium. “At this point, the focus is on those turtles that were too sick to be transported: Ensuring that the proper medical treatment is given, spending long hours coaxing the turtles to eat, and keeping a watchful eye on all of these animals’ behavior.”
The turtles will spend several months undergoing treatment for pneumonia, sepsis, bone infection, and dehydration, a result of becoming unable to regulate their body temperature in the cold waters of Cape Cod Bay.