Cold-stunned animals nursed in Mississippi
GULFPORT, Miss. – Forty endangered sea turtles that were injured when the water off Massachusetts cooled down so quickly that they couldn’t swim away are being nursed back to health at the Mississippi Aquarium, flown there by a volunteer pilot group known as Turtles Fly Too.
All are Kemp’s ridleys, the world’s smallest sea turtles and the most endangered of the six species found in U.S. waters, the aquarium said in a news release Monday.
“All 40 of the Kemp’s ridleys are pretty small,” as little as 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram), said Alexa Delaune, the aquarium’s vice president of veterinary services. Most showed signs of pneumonia and would be treated with antibiotics, she said.
Sea turtles can become lethargic when stunned by water that chills down around them before they can swim to warmer waters. The cold alone can kill them. It can also lead to pneumonia, shock and frostbite.