While you were braving Florida's chilly weather a few weeks ago, a group of sea turtles were being warmed up at Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
The nonprofit announced that it released four Kemp's ridley sea turtles off the state's east coast on Jan. 29 after treating them for several weeks.
The turtles were part of a group of 12 that came from New England, where they'd been "cold stunned."
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Kerry McNally, research scientist and rehabilitation manager at the aquarium, said that's when cold-blooded animals become "basically hypothermic" after experiencing unusually frigid temperatures.
"That causes them to stop eating, stop moving; they're prone to secondary infections," she explained.
Kemp's ridley turtles are the "smallest and most critically endangered sea turtle species," according to the National Park Service.
Since chilly weather is an annual occurrence in Massachusetts, McNally said there are volunteer groups that will walk the beaches and look for cold-stunned turtles who have washed ashore.
Hundreds of these stranded animals are often sent to the New England Aquarium in Boston or National Marine Life Center in southeast Massachusetts. To cope with the demand, some are transferred to secondary facilities for further treatment.
That's where the Clearwater Marine Aquarium comes in. There, turtles go through a rehabilitation process that can range from one to six months.
In addition to bloodwork and prescribing antibiotics for infections, McNally said, "We also take radiographs. ... With their lungs getting so cold, turtles are more susceptible to pneumonia."
And while Florida usually escapes the worst of the winter weather, it's been an especially busy season for the aquarium.
"With some cold weather a few weeks ago up in the Panhandle, they got over 1,000 turtles that stranded within just a few days," McNally said.
Combined with the recent furloughing of 50 of the 175 employees due to financial struggles from last year's hurricane impacts, McNally said it's "definitely been a challenge" for the Clearwater team.
But, she adds that they're doing everything they can to continue treating rescued animals — especially because the hurricanes didn't just affect humans.
"Because the (storm) surge was so high up in the Big Bend area, north of Crystal River ... we got six turtles that were found in ditches over the course of a few months — and that's the most we've ever gotten," McNally said.
Two of those young green sea turtles — named Utica and Vegas — were released near Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs on Feb. 4. They were discovered away from their natural habitats over the past two months, probably displaced by the hurricanes.
McNally says that anyone who finds a stranded turtle should call local marine rescue authorities.
