Cape Cod sea turtle rescue sets record.

QUINCY, MA >> This year’s sea turtle rescue season is setting records, with more than 900 turtles stranded on the Cape since early November.

That means a record number of turtles are receiving medical treatment at New England Aquarium’s Animal Care Center in Quincy and the National Marine Life Center in Buzzards Bay — with 720 turtles receiving veterinary care.

Overall, the aquarium reports, this has been the second busiest cold- stun season in 30 years with more admissions than in 2014, when 692 live turtles were admitted and 1,241 sea turtles were rescued.

“We knew this season would present a major challenge with the pandemic requiring additional safety protocols.

“Combine that w ith historic stranding numbers, and the rescue and rehab operation has been nothing short of extraord i na r y,” sa id C on n ie Merigo, marine animal rescue department manager at the New England Aquarium.

Volunteers and staff for Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary patrol the beaches for stranded turtles after high tides.

Cold-stun season occurs when sea turtles foraging along the New England coast in the summer become trapped in Cape Cod Bay in the fall. Eventually, as the temperatures drop, the turtles become hypothermic, stop swimming and wash ashore.

Most of the turtles that strand during the fall are young Kemp’s ridleys, the most critically endangered sea turtles. Juvenile and sub-adult loggerhead sea turtles, a threatened species, often strand in midDecember.

BOB CARE — FLORIDA KEYS NEW BUREAU VIA AP One of 40 cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley sea turtles swims in a child’s pool after arriving at the Turtle Hospital on Nov. 28 in Marathon, Fla. The turtles were rescued from beaches in Cape Cod, Mass.