WELLFLEET, Mass. – Just two weeks into what is normally a six-to-eight week sea turtle stranding season, prior records are just tiny dots in the rearview mirror.
This year, nearly 1,000 endangered sea turtles have been recovered from Cape Cod Bay beaches, and the turtle pipeline is full. The New England Aquarium, the regional destination for injured and cold-stunned turtles, has already treated nearly 400 animals, almost double the record for a full year.
In a normal year, between 75 and 200 tropical sea turtles might wash up on Cape beaches, mostly around Thanksgiving when the water turns cold and onshore winds blow immobile and sometimes frozen animals to shore.
“There have been so many, they have been overwhelmed,” said New England Aquarium veterinarian Leslie Neville about the aquarium's Animal Care Center in Quincy.
There were more than 300 turtles at the Quincy facility over the weekend, said aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse. The center typically is at capacity with about half that number.
Read the full story and watch the video from the Cape Cod Times