{"id":7276,"date":"2010-09-13T21:08:53","date_gmt":"2010-09-14T02:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=7276"},"modified":"2010-11-14T13:45:17","modified_gmt":"2010-11-14T18:45:17","slug":"saving-worlds-most-endangered-sea-turtle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=7276","title":{"rendered":"Saving the World’s Most Endangered Sea Turtles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0\"KRS<\/a><\/p>\n

Sue Wieber Nourse, Don Lewis & Juvenile Kemp’s Ridley<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As long shadows form and days begin to shorten, Turtle Journal’s thoughts and plans turn to sea turtle rescue season.\u00c2\u00a0 Endangered juvenile sea turtles become trapped in the great seine net called Cape Cod Bay that stretches forty miles into the North Atlantic and “catches” turtles as they migrate south with dropping sea temperature.\u00c2\u00a0 The warmer the summer season, the higher the probability that increased numbers of sea turtles will get trapped in the bay and become cold-stunned in November.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\"Stranding-Critters<\/a><\/p>\n

Rescued Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles (clockwise):<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kemp’s Ridley (top left), Green, Loggerhead, Hybrid<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the last few decades more than a thousand of the most endangered sea turtles in the world have been recovered off Cape Cod beaches by volunteers organized by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(see Gearing Up for Sea Turtle Stranding Season on Cape Cod<\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0 The overwhelming majority (more than 90% in recent years) have been juvenile (1.5 to 3 year old) Kemp’s ridley sea turtles.\u00c2\u00a0 Other rescued sea turtles include loggerheads, greens, hybrids and rarely hawksbills.<\/p>\n

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

Rescued Kemp’s Ridley at Chapin Beach, Cape Cod<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This youngster pictured above was rescued by Turtle Journal early in the 2008 stranding season at Chapin Beach in Dennis (see Saving a Critically Endangered Sea Turtle<\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0 Because it preceded the actual cold-stunning\u00c2\u00a0event by nearly two months, and was still quite lively, we decided to release it directly into Nantucket Sound so that it could continue its journey southward uninterrupted by a trip to the rehabilitation wards.<\/p>\n