20 Stunned Cold Sea Turtles Flown To Westhampton Beach For Help

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY — It was a flight of mercy for 20 cold stunned Kemp's ridley sea turtles who were sent from New England to Westhampton Beach for life-saving care.

According to the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, the organization admitted the 20 sea turtles to their facility in Westhampton Beach on Wednesday afternoon. The sea turtles were flown from the New England Aquarium in Boston to Francis S. Gabreski Airport on a mission organized by Turtles Fly Too.

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are the smallest and most endangered species of sea turtles in the world, AMSEAS said.

Cold stun season occurs in the northeast when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the fall, and some sea turtles not able to make their way south to warmer waters.

The sea turtles become hypothermic or “cold stunned.” Initial symptoms include a decreased heart rate, decreased respiration and lethargy, followed by shock, pneumonia and possibly death.

Between 400 and 900 cold-stunned sea turtles strand both alive and deceased in the northeast each year. In 2020 far, there have been more than 400 strandings, AMSEAS said.

Sea turtles are usually found in waters off the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States during the summer and early fall. The turtles enter northeast bays and coastal waters in the summer, but some then stay too long into the fall — and those in Cape Cod Bay are blocked from warmer waters offshore and south by the arm of the Cape, AMSEAS said.

AMSEAS participated in the rescue as part of the Specially Trained Animal Response Team — to help provide support to other organizations within the network. The mission was organized by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Stranding and Disentanglement Coordinator Kate Sampson, a release said.

AMSEAS representatives said they were asked to help, during the busy cold stun season, to provide short-term care for the sea turtles, after which they will be transported to another facility.

The organization is one of many network partners helping to provide temporary care and giving the sea turtles a second chance. AMSEAS biologists and volunteers have formed several internal teams, including transport, triage, and husbandry, to assess each sea turtle and come up with a care plan, the organization said.

“When we founded the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society in 2016, it was always with the idea that we would help other stranding network members and fellow conservation organizations,” said AMSEAS chief scientist Rob DiGiovanni. “Nothing we do is just about us. It truly takes a village to make a difference and we pride ourselves on being able to assist in stranding events such as these. Promoting marine conservation through action is absolutely a group effort.”

NOAA Fisheries works with a network of partner organizations for coordinated rescues. In late fall, volunteers from the Massachusetts Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary walk Cape Cod beaches to collect the cold-stunned turtles. Next, volunteers bring the turtles back to Mass Audubon, where staff checks for signs of life and evaluates the turtles, who then go to the New England Aquarium's Animal Care Center or the National Marine Life Center, both NOAA fisheries sea turtle stranding network members, for an initial evaluation and treatment.