New England Aquarium releases 5 rehabilitated turtles on Cape Cod beach

WEST DENNIS, Mass. (WLNE) — The New England Aquarium announced they released five rehabilitated sea turtles back into the wild on Wednesday.

According to the aquarium, three of the five turtles returned to the wild were Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, which are critically endangered. The other two are green sea turtles which are also endangered.

Officials said they were all rescued back in November and December of this year on Cape Cod beaches, all suffering from various life-threatening ailments including low heart rates and abscesses as a result of an annual cold-stunning event.

The aquarium said the rapidly changing ocean temperature during the months of November and December causes many turtles to become hypothermic and get stranded on shore.

All the turtles grew substantially in size and made remarkable recoveries during their time at the rehab center, rescue technicians said.

“This is the culmination of our work every year,” said Adam Kennedy, Director of Rescue and Rehabilitation at the New England Aquarium.

“We’ve seen thousands of turtles enter our hospital from the shores of Cape Cod during the cold weather months. Our great reward is to put them back into their ocean home, fully recovered,” he explained.

The aquarium said there are still 17 turtles at their facilities which will hopefully be released in the coming weeks.

The New England Aquarium has treated a total of 518 turtles over the course of 2022.