RESCUED SEA TURTLES BEING REHABILITATED IN BALTIMORE

More than two dozen sickened sea turtles are undergoing longterm rehabilitation at the National Aquarium in Baltimore after being rescued in the New England area.

Officials with the facility said the 30 sea turtles suffered from a condition called cold-stunning — becoming weak after being exposed for too long to cold temperatures. Sea turtles can’t regulate their body temperatures the way mammals can, and they get coldstunned in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

When sea turtles are coldstunned, they “become lethargic and are eventually unable to swim causing them to float to the surface,” NOAA said. Eventually, the wind and tides wash the coldstunned sea turtles ashore; if they’re not rescued, they develop other more serious health conditions and can die.

The 30 sea turtles brought to Baltimore were rescued in November from Cape Cod, Mass. Officials said they were cared for at the New England Aquarium in Boston, then transferred to the aquarium in Baltimore for rehabilitation.

Kate Shaffer, rehabilitation manager at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, said sea turtles migrate up and down the Atlantic Coast. They go to Cape Cod for the summer, but when the temperature drops in the fall, it becomes hard for them to navigate “out of the cold waters,” she said. Because sea turtles are exothermic, they get their body temperatures from their surroundings, like air or water. “If they’re in water that’s too cold for too long, their bodies slow down,” Shaffer said.

“They stop eating, and they’re at the mercy of the tide,” she said. Every year, the Baltimore aquarium takes in about 30 sea turtles who are cold-stunned, she said.

THERESA KEIL NATIONAL AQUARIUM Staff at the National Aquarium care for sea turtles that suffered cold-stunning.