More than 100 cold-stunned turtles wash ashore on Outer Banks amid frigid temperatures
The cold snap in North Carolina has been too much for some sea turtles to handle, experts say.
More than 100 cold-stunned turtles have washed up on a beach on North Carolina’s Outer Banks between Tuesday and Wednesday, the National Park Service wrote on Facebook.
Rescuers found 95 Kemp’s ridley turtles on Hatteras Island on Tuesday, the National Parks Service said. An additional 10 turtles were found on Cape Hatteras National Seashore property Wednesday morning.
Cold stunning is a type of hypothermia that turtles suffer when temperatures decrease quickly, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Sea turtles are cold blooded so they rely on the temperatures of their surroundings to regulate their body temperature, NOAA says.
Usually they can do so by “moving between areas of water with different temperatures” or soaking up the sun on the beach or the water’s surface, according to NOAA.
But when the water gets too cold too fast and the turtles can’t get to warmer water, they become cold-stunned.
Turtles are especially vulnerable to cold stunning when water temperatures get below 50 degrees or when they’re hanging out in shallow-water that gets cold when air temperatures drop, according to NOAA. This makes cold snaps dangerous for them.
The average temperature on Tuesday on Cape Hatters was 42 degrees and got as low as 37 degrees, according to the National Weather Service’s Newport/Morehead office. The high on Wednesday on Cape Hatteras was forecast to be 52 degrees with a low of 44 degrees.
The turtles that washed ashore were taken to the STAR Center at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island to be rehabilitated, the Park Service says.
Many of the turtles should be released back into the ocean by the end of the week.
Cold stunning can be deadly for sea turtles.
When they’re cold stunned, they become lethargic and are more likely to be eaten, hit by boats or get sick, NOAA says. They’re bodies can also shut down, causing them to die.
Rescuers were looking for more cold-stunned turtles on the Outer Banks on Wednesday, the Park Service said.
Everyone can help cold-stunned turtles by looking out for them on beaches and shorelines when the weather gets cold and reporting any to local rescuers, NOAA says. It’s also important to slow down when boating.
