Lauren Owens Lambert
Winters are harsh on the shores of Cape Cod—not a place where you think you would find tropical sea turtles. But each winter Greens, Loggerheads and Kemp's Ridleys wash up stunned by the cold ocean temperatures and disoriented from the hook-like shape of the geography. With the help from volunteers and biologists at Mass Audubon and the New England Aquarium, the turtles are rescued, rehabilitated and flown to their destination to be released into warmer waters.
Strandings have averaged around 90 per year until 2014 when there was a record breaking 700. The most commonly found species is also the most endangered, the Kemp’s Ridley. “We are not sure why we are seeing an increase in stranding’s while also noticing an overall decline in population of Ridgley’s,” says Connie Marigo, Director of the NEAQ Rescue and Rehabilitation Program, the oldest program of its kind in America. They are some of the world’s great navigators but for this part of their journey a little help is needed.