A word on beached sea turtles

A stranded turtle received treatment at the New England Aquarium last month. As water temperatures have dropped, live beached turtles are now rarely found.

After last week’s post featuring the Kemp’s Ridley carcass that Ralph Marotti found on Cape Cod, we received a request from the dedicated staff at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts. While live sea turtle strandings peaked last month, carcasses are still turning up on the Cape with some frequency, and word from Florida is that cold-stunned turtles are still beaching down there as well. Here in Massachusetts, many of our Seanetters also volunteer to patrol for stranded sea turtles, but anyone can help. If you happen upon a beached sea turtle, live or dead, please contact the folks at Wellfleet Bay at 508-349-2615. They can collect the carcass and they are always interested in reports so they can get a clearer picture of species and numbers of turtles affected by cold-stunning this year. And after all, who better than a Seanetter to appreciate the value of reporting even dead specimens?

The Cape saw its  third most severe stranding year for turtles this season; you can read more about it at their blog.