{"id":3620,"date":"2009-11-29T15:15:02","date_gmt":"2009-11-29T20:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=3620"},"modified":"2010-01-16T09:38:02","modified_gmt":"2010-01-16T14:38:02","slug":"night-patrol-rescues-six-rare-sea-turtles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=3620","title":{"rendered":"Night Patrol Rescues Six Rare Sea Turtles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five\u00c2\u00a0Endangered Kemp’s Ridleys and\u00c2\u00a0One Threatened Green Sea Turtle Saved<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"000b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Critically Endangered Kemp’s Ridley Juvenile Sea Turtle<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“A night not fit for man nor beast<\/em><\/strong>,” as W.C. Fields might say, with winds howling from the west-northwest at a steady 25-to-30\u00c2\u00a0knots, punctuated by an occasional 50 mph gust.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, these are the very conditions\u00c2\u00a0in which tropical sea turtles strand each fall on bayside beaches.\u00c2\u00a0 Trapped\u00c2\u00a0by the geological seine called Cape Cod jutting forty miles into the North Atlantic,\u00c2\u00a0tropical sea turtles become cold-stunned as\u00c2\u00a0bay water temperatures plunge below 50\u00c2\u00ba F.\u00c2\u00a0 By an accident of their natural lifecycle, most of these trapped and cold-stunned turtles are two\u00c2\u00a0and three year old Kemp’s ridleys, a critically endangered species and one of the rarest sea turtles in the world.\u00c2\u00a0 So, on this night not fit for human or reptile, turtles would be tossed ashore like flotsam and jetsam, condemned to certain hypothermic death unless rescued from the beach by a dedicated team of staff and volunteers from Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
Bob Prescott, sanctuary director, and Dennis Murley, senior naturalist, watch wind and weather conditions throughout the day to best deploy rescuers for night patrols.\u00c2\u00a0 What during daylight seems a\u00c2\u00a0“walk on the beach” transforms at night\u00c2\u00a0into a\u00c2\u00a0dangerous\u00c2\u00a0obstacle course\u00c2\u00a0exacerbated by\u00c2\u00a0blinding darkness, pounding surf, scouring sandblasts and\u00c2\u00a0deafening winds.\u00c2\u00a0 “Don’t attempt this on your own.\u00c2\u00a0 Leave it to the pros.”<\/span><\/div>\n

\"001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sue Wieber Nourse and Jared Nourse Rescue 10-Inch Ridley<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This Saturday night, they decided to send out patrols to bayside beaches\u00c2\u00a0from Eastham through Orleans and Brewster to Dennis; that is, beaches in the reciprocal direction of the prevailing wind.\u00c2\u00a0 The Turtle Journal<\/span><\/a> team <\/span>drew the westernmost stretch from Chapin Beach\u00c2\u00a0to Sea Street in Dennis.\u00c2\u00a0 As\u00c2\u00a0rescue nights go, this one rated a 10 with a waxing gibbous moon on high and the Constellation Orion rising in the eastern sky.\u00c2\u00a0 Heck, it wasn’t snowing; not even raining!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"000\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cold-Stunned Kemp’s Ridley Rescued from Chapin Beach<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

About a quarter mile east of the Chapin Beach ramp, the Turtle Journal team of Sue Wieber Nourse (senior partner, Cape Cod Consultants)\u00c2\u00a0and Jared Nourse (Williams College) found a juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtle rolling in the waves.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Measuring a mere 10-inch carapace (top shell) length,\u00c2\u00a0the turtle was tossed upside down on the beach.\u00c2\u00a0 “It looked just like salty brine foam\u00c2\u00a0in the moonlight,” observed Ms. Nourse.\u00c2\u00a0 She\u00c2\u00a0plucked the\u00c2\u00a0turtle from receding waves before it was pulled back out to sea\u00c2\u00a0and examined it carefully.\u00c2\u00a0 She\u00c2\u00a0pronounced it “quite\u00c2\u00a0lively.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"002\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Rescued Ridley and Wind-Teared Sue Wieber Nourse<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Since\u00c2\u00a0Sue had to walk the animal back into the teeth of the\u00c2\u00a0WNW blow, she placed the little turtle under her top coat to protect it from the hypothermic effect of the blasting wind.\u00c2\u00a0 So, back at the Turtle Journal research vehicle, the protected ridley was doing just fine (thank you)\u00c2\u00a0while Sue’s exposed eyes were tearing in the relentless wind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"003\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Juvenile Kemp’s Ridley Measures 25.5\u00c2\u00a0Cm Carapace Length<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Turtle Journal team\u00c2\u00a0searched six more miles of coastline, but found no other cold-stunned turtle in Dennis.\u00c2\u00a0 In Brewster, Dennis Murley and Mark Faherty\u00c2\u00a0recovered\u00c2\u00a0one Kemp’s ridley each.\u00c2\u00a0 Bob Prescott hit the jackpot with one Kemp’s ridley from Boat Meadow in Eastham, plus one Kemp’s ridley and one good-sized green sea turtle from Skaket Beach in Orleans.\u00c2\u00a0 All told, Mass Audubon rescuers had saved six cold-stunned sea turtles; five critically endangered Kemp’s ridleys and one threatened green sea turtle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ridley\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cold-Stunned Kemp’s Ridley Strands with High Tide<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“How Can I Help Save Stranded Sea Turtles?”<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
If you encounter a sea turtle on the beach, first DO NOT<\/span><\/strong> put it back into the water.\u00c2\u00a0 Doing so will condemn the animal to almost certain death.\u00c2\u00a0 DO NOT<\/span><\/strong> remove the animal from the beach.\u00c2\u00a0 A special license is required to transport federally protected species.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead, DO<\/span><\/strong> move the turtle above the high water line.\u00c2\u00a0 DO<\/span><\/strong> cover the animal with dry seaweed to prevent the wind from causing additional hypothermia.\u00c2\u00a0 DO<\/span><\/strong> mark the covered turtle with a gaudy piece of flotsam or jetsam, perhaps a buoy or anything unusual … so that rescuers\u00c2\u00a0can easily find the critter hidden under a pile of seaweed.\u00c2\u00a0 DO<\/span><\/strong> call Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at (508) 349-2615<\/strong> to report the turtle.\u00c2\u00a0 If there is difficulty getting through\u00c2\u00a0to this number, you can always reach the Turtle Journal team at our 24\/7 hotline (508-274-5108<\/strong>).\u00c2\u00a0 When giving directions from the landing or beach to the turtle, DO<\/span><\/strong> use left and right (when facing the water) rather than cardinal directions.\u00c2\u00a0 DO<\/span><\/strong> give the walking time it takes to reach the turtle from the landing (turn right and walk five minutes) rather than describing distance in feet, yards\u00c2\u00a0or fractions of miles.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
Thank you for helping save these rare and beautiful creatures.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’d like to volunteer to patrol beaches during the day or drive rescued animals to Boston for medical care, contact Cynthia Franklin (cfranklin@massaudubon.org<\/a>), volunteer coordinator\u00c2\u00a0at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary (508-349-2615<\/strong>).<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five\u00c2\u00a0Endangered Kemp’s Ridleys and\u00c2\u00a0One Threatened Green Sea Turtle Saved Critically Endangered Kemp’s Ridley Juvenile Sea Turtle “A night not fit for man nor beast,” as W.C. Fields might say, with winds howling from the west-northwest at a steady 25-to-30\u00c2\u00a0knots, punctuated by an occasional 50 mph gust.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, these are the very conditions\u00c2\u00a0in which tropical sea […]<\/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\/3620"}],"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=3620"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3639,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620\/revisions\/3639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}