Aquarium reports danger facing world's smallest sea turtle: 'The majority of the turtles arrive with serious ailments'

As sea temperatures continue to rise, sea turtles are facing significant danger as a result.

What's happening?

As explained by the Associated Press earlier this month, the number of stranded sea turtles in the New England area "has multiplied over the last 20 years, filling one specialized animal hospital with the endangered creatures." Warmer climates attract these reptiles to areas like Cape Cod Bay, but the inevitable drop in temperatures then makes it impossible for them to escape south to their natural habitats.

The New England Aquarium, which runs a turtle hospital in Quincy, Massachusetts, once treated over 200 cold-stunned young turtles in a single day, director of rescue and rehabilitation Adam Kennedy told the AP. These include Kemp's ridley turtles, which were described as "critically endangered" by the AP and are the smallest sea turtles in the world.

Kennedy also said the aquarium expects the number of turtles it rescues to increase to at least 400, a massive jump from 2010, when the average was 40. The AP also noted that data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed the five-year average of cold-stunned sea turtles in Massachusetts has risen to over 700 in recent years, up from 200 in the early 2010s.

"Climate change certainly is allowing those numbers of turtles to get in where normally the numbers weren't very high years ago," Kennedy told the AP.

Why is this important?

The Kemp's ridley turtles largely reside in the Gulf of Mexico but often explore the Atlantic Ocean when juvenile. The AP pointed to a 2019 study in the journal PLoS One that determined "the warming of the ocean increases the chance of cold-stunning events once the turtles reach the Northwest Atlantic" and "warmer seas may push the turtles north in a way that makes stranding more likely."

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Unfortunately, when these creatures are left stranded after temperatures drop, they often face significant health risks. The hospital at the New England Aquarium has come to expect the sea turtles to need special treatment to help them recover from being critically ill.

"The majority of the turtles arrive with serious ailments such as pneumonia, dehydration, traumatic injuries, or sepsis," Melissa Joblon, director of animal health at the aquarium, told the AP.

What's being done about this?

The effort by the turtle hospital at the New England Aquarium has produced promising results. Kennedy said the sea turtles are rehabilitated so they can be safely returned to the wild, whether locally or in warmer southern waters, and around 80 percent of them survive.

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"At the end of the day, getting these turtles back to the wild is what we are doing and what we want," Kennedy told the AP. "We want them back in the ocean."

There are also rescue efforts in different parts of the world to help prevent these creatures from facing the dangers of the seas, as well as conservation groups that are actively working to save different turtle species from extinction.