{"id":1712,"date":"2008-11-24T14:10:14","date_gmt":"2008-11-24T18:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=1712"},"modified":"2008-11-26T17:56:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-26T21:56:00","slug":"turtle-world-turned-upside-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=1712","title":{"rendered":"Turtle World Turned Upside Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Couple Find 60-Pound Loggerhead on Icy Beach<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Earth’s axis tilted and the turtle world turned upside down this weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no other explanation for the bizarre events that created reptile bedlam on Cape Cod.\u00c2\u00a0 The evidence?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Oxymoronic “frozen tropical” sea turtles (greens, Kemp’s ridleys and loggerheads) wash ashore through icy slush and freezing sea water.\u00c2\u00a0 A goofy two-year-old diamondback terrapin juvenile waltzes across Bridge Road in Eastham during the teeth of a snowy gale.\u00c2\u00a0 And a fresh water painted turtle turns up frozen solid\u00c2\u00a0at high tide\u00c2\u00a0on a Cape Cod Bay beach in Truro!\u00c2\u00a0 Sounds a bit like a Marx Brothers movie, Night at the Ocean<\/em><\/strong> (sic).<\/p>\n

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Brutal Wintry Conditions for Sea Turtle Patrols<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s begin at the beginning.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s nothing so crazy as patrolling for tropical and semi-tropical sea turtles in a wintry wonderland.\u00c2\u00a0 Saturday brought two inches of snow, icy roads and frozen beaches to the Outer Cape.\u00c2\u00a0 Conditions for Saturday night’s sea turtle patrols proved the worst ever recorded by rescuers with wind chills tumbling below zero.\u00c2\u00a0 Sea water froze and several feet of icy sludge formed between beach and breakers.\u00c2\u00a0 Waves flash froze on the shoreline before they could retreat into the sea.\u00c2\u00a0 Sand pebbles became near lethal projectiles propelled in our faces by gale force winds.<\/p>\n

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Frozen Wave with Cold-Stunned Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet, even in these conditions, turtles were recovered from the beach and some resilient ridleys came back from the brink.\u00c2\u00a0 Bob Prescott, director of Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary<\/a> and leader of the sea turtle rescue team, snatched a smallish Kemp’s ridley from the beach with its flippers frozen into place.\u00c2\u00a0 “No hope for this one,” thought Bob as he returned home to get some rest and warmth.\u00c2\u00a0 When he rose the next morning, Bob checked the ridley and noted that its frozen flippers had relaxed, but with no sign of life, the assumption was that it had simply come out of rigor mortis<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Bob breakfasted and geared up for the frigid\u00c2\u00a0morning ahead.\u00c2\u00a0 As he gazed down at the turtle one last time, it winked back at him.\u00c2\u00a0 Alive!\u00c2\u00a0 (See video of this Kemp’s ridley below in the Sanctuary triage center as it prepares to go to Boston for medical treatment.)<\/p>\n

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Squid Flash Frozen by Wintry Storm<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

How cold was it Saturday night?\u00c2\u00a0 Bob found a live squid that had been tossed onto the frozen beach by gale-force winds and towering breakers.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, by the time he reached his vehicle the animal had flash frozen.\u00c2\u00a0 You can imagine the effect of those conditions on raw human\u00c2\u00a0skin when you remove your gloves to check a cold-stunned animal … or to take pictures for Turtle Journal.\u00c2\u00a0 (ASIDE:\u00c2\u00a0 Don still can’t feel anything on the tips of his thumbs and forefingers.)<\/p>\n

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60-Pound Cold-Stunned Loggerhead Washes Ashore<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Morning high tide came at 8 am.\u00c2\u00a0 Kerry and Russell, a couple from New Hampshire who are supporters of the National Marine Life Center<\/a> in Buzzards Bay, joined the Turtle Journal team for a sea turtle patrol of Brewster beaches from Breakwater in the west through Point of Rocks to Windslow Landing in the east.\u00c2\u00a0 When you’re dressed for ski slopes or for scaling Mount Denali (McKinley) in Alaska, it’s really hard to think that you’re going out to search for tropical sea turtles.\u00c2\u00a0 Nevertheless, about three quarters of a mile into the walk we saw a large object washing onto shore in the frigid surf.<\/p>\n

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Click Here to View Video in High Quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Kerry & Russell Recover Loggerhead from Point of Rocks<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A 60-pound loggerhead, the largest sea turtle so far in this stranding season, had beached at the Point of Rocks landing in Brewster.\u00c2\u00a0 The location was very lucky for us, because if you haven’t had the opportunity to carry 60 pounds of awkward, dead-weight loggerhead a mile down a frozen beach, you haven’t lived.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0We would protect the turtle from any additional hypothermia and return with a vehicle to the landing to bring it to the triage center in Wellfleet.<\/p>\n

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Loggerhead Covered with Dry Seaweed above High Tide Line<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We followed sea turtle rescue procedures to a tee.\u00c2\u00a0 We moved the loggerhead above the high water line, so that it wouldn’t get washed back out to sea.\u00c2\u00a0 We actually placed it in the lee of\u00c2\u00a0a sand dune to block the blistering wind.\u00c2\u00a0 We scoured the beach for dry seaweed and covered the turtle to prevent additional hypothermia now that it was out of the water.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0We would have marked the spot with a gaudy object for a recovery team to retrieve if we weren’t coming back ourselves in a few minutes to load it into the Element for transport to the Sanctuary.<\/p>\n

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Click Here to View Video in High Quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Kerry & Russell Find Cold-Stunned 6-Pound Kemp’s Ridley<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But before we could get back to the warmth of the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, we had to finish our patrol.\u00c2\u00a0 We still had about half a mile to go to reach our pre-positioned car at Winslow Landing.\u00c2\u00a0 (You may recall from Tiny Kemp\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ridley Rescued in Freezing Conditions<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0that we try to plan these patrols so that we are always walking with out back to the wind.\u00c2\u00a0 It helps to prevent two-legged cold-stunned mammal\u00c2\u00a0strandings!)\u00c2\u00a0 Midway between Point of Rocks and Winslow, Russell and Kerry spotted a 6-pound Kemp’s ridley sea turtle lying on the beach just above a flash-frozen wave that never made it back into the sea.\u00c2\u00a0 This ridley was in the same condition as Bob Prescott’s turtle from the night before; so, we always remain hopeful.<\/p>\n

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Kerry Examines Ridleys and Loggerhead in Triage Center<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, we brought our turtles into the wet lab which serves as a triage center during stranding season.\u00c2\u00a0 Sea turtles are dry-docked in a cool room while they are processed and examined.\u00c2\u00a0 No turtle is considered beyond recovering until it has had ample opportunity … at least 24 hours …\u00c2\u00a0to show signs of life.\u00c2\u00a0 Too many times people have given up these animals\u00c2\u00a0as dead when they\u00c2\u00a0later snapped back to life.\u00c2\u00a0 As you may hear in the accompanying videos, these\u00c2\u00a0cold-stunned turtles\u00c2\u00a0have shut down to protect themselves with ever so slight heart rates at one to five beats a minute.<\/p>\n

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Click Here to View Video in High Quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Triage Center at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Kemp’s ridley sea turtles from Saturday night, including Bob’s “miracle” turtle, were being boxed and prepared for the long drive from the Outer Cape to the New England Aquarium<\/a> in Boston.\u00c2\u00a0 Volunteers from New Hampshire had trekked down to Wellfleet to transport this precious cargo to emergency medical care and the start of rehabilitation.\u00c2\u00a0 These volunteers had also experienced the adventure of sea turtle patrols as they had walked Ryder Beach in Truro in\u00c2\u00a0Saturday night’s impossible conditions.<\/p>\n

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Click Here to View Video in High Quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Two-Year-Old Terrapin Juvenile Strolling in the Storm<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Turning an unusual situation into the bizarre, we noticed a two-year-old diamondback terrapin juvenile in the wet lab.\u00c2\u00a0 What?\u00c2\u00a0 The story goes that a resident had spotted this wayward turtle crossing Bridge Road in Eastham during the weekend’s wintry gale.\u00c2\u00a0 There are nursery salt marshes on both sides of Bridge Road and perhaps this little critter had become unearthed from its hibernaculum by blustery conditions.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, the sight of a cold-blooded terrapin strolling down an ice and snow covered road in late November ranks up near the top of the Turtle Journal “Believe it or Not” Listing.<\/p>\n

But it’s not at the top of the list, not even for this weekend’s strange string of events.<\/p>\n

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Frozen Painted Turtle Found on Truro Beach<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay, here’s the really weird story of the day.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, Virginia, that is a fresh water painted turtle in the picture above and perhaps that gives away the punchline.\u00c2\u00a0 The sanctuary received a call that a cold-stunned sea turtle had washed ashore at Corn Hill Beach in Truro.\u00c2\u00a0 Emily, the sanctuary’s turtle intern, sped to the scene and diligently searched and re-searched and searched again the beach area where the sea turtle had been reported.\u00c2\u00a0 She looked for a Kemp’s ridley or a loggerhead or a high pile of seaweed under which a turtle had been buried.\u00c2\u00a0 No luck.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, as frustration mounted, she spotted a small shell above the wrack line:\u00c2\u00a0a frozen painted turtle.\u00c2\u00a0 We have NO IDEA what a fresh water turtle was doing on a salt water beach with no ponds or lakes or streams or creeks within hollering range.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is it alive?\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t make snap judgments about our reptilian friends.\u00c2\u00a0 This painted turtle holds a privileged place in the wet lab triage center … just like the 60-pound loggerhead and the 6-pound Kemp’s ridley, waiting to tell us, in its own good time, whether or not it lies on this side of the live line.<\/p>\n

Finally, the Turtle Journal team thanks Kerry & Russell and all supporters of the National Marine Life Center<\/a> whose generous contributions have\u00c2\u00a0made\u00c2\u00a0a dream into a reality\u00c2\u00a0as the NMLC’s new marine animal hospital opens in Buzzards Bay next summer.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Couple Find 60-Pound Loggerhead on Icy Beach Earth’s axis tilted and the turtle world turned upside down this weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no other explanation for the bizarre events that created reptile bedlam on Cape Cod.\u00c2\u00a0 The evidence?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Oxymoronic “frozen tropical” sea turtles (greens, Kemp’s ridleys and loggerheads) wash ashore through icy slush and freezing sea water.\u00c2\u00a0 A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1712"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1748,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1712\/revisions\/1748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}