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Falling temperatures and strong winds off Cape Cod in Massachusetts caused the heartbreaking deaths of dozens of sea turtles this week.
Many turtles were found frozen in water; others stranded on the shore. Some of the victims were the Ridley turtles from Kemp, the most endangered sea turtles in the world.
"It was as if they were frozen, flippers in all the strange positions as if they were swimming," said Robert Prescott, director of the sanctuary of the Audubon Society of Massachusetts, Wellfleet Bay, at the Cape Cod Times.
Of 82 discovered turtles frozen on Thursday, only one survived, the newspaper reported. A total of 219 dead or cold turtles were found during the three days ending Friday.
A dozen surviving turtles were sent to the New England Aquarium for treatment. Others are being treated at the Audubon Wildlife Center.
The turtles can get stuck in the hook-shaped cloak that is difficult to negotiate. Systems of cold-blooded animals begin to go out when the water temperature drops below 50 degrees. They stop and are at the mercy of the wind.
Most turtles come from tropical regions and prefer a water temperature of up to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. They are transported north into the Gulf Stream in the summer, but have to move south as the seasons change. Climate change and the warmth of its ocean waters can cause turtles to linger too long in the north, where a sudden drop in temperature has deadly consequences.
"Sea turtles move further north along our shores … as the waters warm up and expand their range," said Wallace Nichols, a marine turtle biologist and research associate at NBC, NBC. science. "So, when we go from these quick hot shots to the cold, turtles that have not headed south definitely have problems."
Wildlife workers and volunteers began saving cold-weathered turtles from last month. One of the first turtles to wash when temperatures dropped was a 300-pound leatherback turtle that could not be saved. But this week has been the deadliest one so far.
Prescott thinks that the number of turtles knocked out or killed by the cold picked up by wildlife workers can reach 1,000 by the end of the year.
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