We are now in the midst of rehabilitating endangered sea turtles that washed up on Cape Cod beaches this fall, incapacitated with hypothermia and other ailments. This post explains what happens after a turtle's initial health assessment arrives from Cape Cod during its journey to recovery. 

Once rescuers have an idea of a turtle's physical health—including its body temperature—they need to find out how it behaves in water. Is it active and swimming about? Does it lift its head to breath? Or does it just float motionless? Answers to these questions help paint a full picture about the turtle's overall health and fitness.

A rescuer hold a turtle's head above water

So, to the pool! Kiddie pools, in fact. After initial exams the new patients are brought into a chilly room with several kiddie pools filled just a couple inches deep full of water. There are sometimes even ice packs floating in the water to keep it cool. The air and water temperature is carefully calculated so that it closely matches the turtle's internal body temperature.

Volunteers and interns have to don winter parkas when new patients arrive for their first swim. The room and water temperature is often in the 50s or 60s!

It makes for a chilly lifeguarding job, but it's important that someone is closely monitoring each animal to ensure they are safe. The lifeguards sometimes tap the turtle's shell to stimulate a swimming response. If a turtle is particularly lethargic, they sometimes have to hold its head above water. You can bet they're wearing their thick winter parkas for this job!

As we mentioned in an earlier post, getting the temperature of the turtle is crucial because it's important not to raise the temperature of the animal too quickly (more on that in a later post, stay tuned)—even if the turtle's internal temperature is very low. Each swim is not very long. After their quick dip, the turtles are nestled into their banana boxes, where they spend time in air conditioned rooms to rest and recuperate. They'll have longer and longer swims in kiddie pools each day until they are warm and strong enough to join the turtles in the large pools.

A large pool full of recuperating turtles. The mesh dividers keep turtles organized into separate pens, depending on their species, size, food needs or other general health concerns.

The next step in a turtle's recovery can, and should, take a little while. The rescuers have to warm those turtles up! Stay tuned for more on this stage in a turtle's road to recovery.

Stranding season, in review:

• This year beach walkers rescued nearly 90 turtles. 
• The turtles were treated at the Aquarium's Animal Care Center in Quincy, Mass., and many were moved to partnering rescue facilities to make room for more patients. 
• Right now there are more than 40 turtles in treatment at the Aquarium's facilities—mostly Kemp's ridley sea turtles and some loggerhead and green sea turtles. 

We are now in the midst of rehabilitating endangered sea turtles that washed up on Cape Cod beaches this fall, incapacitated with hypothermia and other ailments. 

• This year beach walkers rescued nearly 90 turtles. 
• The turtles were treated at the Aquarium's Animal Care Center in Quincy, Mass., and many were moved to partnering rescue facilities to make room for more patients. 
• Right now there are more than 40 turtles treatment at the Aquarium's facilities—mostly Kemp's ridley sea turtles and some loggerhead and green sea turtles. 

This post follows one turtle on a special trip for advanced medical imaging.

Recently one of our turtles, #067 a.k.a. Kaboom, underwent a CT scan procedure at the Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn, MA.

#067 getting secured for his CT scan procedure, as personnel is not allowed in the room to hold the turtle while the scan is being performed.

#067 is a juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtle who is currently our most critical patient. While other sea turtles under our care are actively swimming, diving and gaining weight, #067 up until the beginning of this week was spending most of its time floating at the surface, not showing much of any kind of activity. Only recently he started diving and swimming and looking more “like a turtle”.

#067 ready for his procedure. You can see the red lines on his head and body, which are used to make sure the patient is aligned correctly for the scan.

His appetite has also been very poor and this turtle only eats shrimp, which is low in calories and not very nutritious. Even though our Animal Health Department has some pretty advanced diagnostic techniques available to us, sometimes we have to rely on other animal hospitals with state of the art diagnostic equipment to help us better understand why our patients are not improving.

This is the view from the computer station that controls the CT machine into the CT room.  You can see #067 on the table in the distance. The scan is in progress.

The CT scan confirmed that #067 has severe pneumonia, but the radiologist has not seen anything else in the turtle’s body that would explain his lack of improvement. #067 will remain on antibiotics and we will continue to monitor his blood values and lung x-rays to see if there is a change.

One of the CT images showing areas of consolidated, diseased, tissue in the right lung indicated by red arrows.

If it’s deemed necessary, our veterinary staff might also perform a lung biopsy to further analyze what kind of bacteria are causing the pneumonia. Thanks to the CT images, we will be able to target the bad, or diseased, tissue areas for the biopsy. The turtle will most likely get another CT scan in a month as well.

MVRH veterinary radiologist, Dr. Tonya Tromblee, and Dr. Charlie Innis,  New England Aquarium veterinarian, analyzing the CT scan images.

Sometimes we meet people who are going to extraordinary lengths to protect our blue planet. Not only do these individuals make changes in their own lives, but they raise awareness and money to help marine animals and their ocean home. 

Abby is a 4th-grader from Massachusetts. She's taken a particular interest in sea turtles, and she's doing some amazing things to help them. She has started selling hand-made bracelets to raise money for sea turtles! In this post, she answers some of our questions about her endeavor here. But first, an introduction from Abby's website.

My name is Abby and I’m in the fourth grade. Last year in literacy class we read a book about sea turtles. I learned that sea turtles were endangered and I decided then and there, that I was going to raise money to help save them. 

I knew it would be a big project, so first I started by asking my friends and family for donation money to help save sea turtles. Then my dad offered to make me a website. Of course, I said, “Yes!” I got the idea to make bracelets when I saw the student council giving away bracelets to support Boston Strong. Then, as an end of the year present, my dad got me a set to make the bracelets. Together we designed the website, and the rest is history.

Abby, your website gives some great background about how you first learned about turtles. What do you like about these marine animals?

I really like animals of all kinds, but when I read about turtles and all the ways they are in danger, I really wanted to help.

A young green sea turtle in treatment for cold-stunning at the Aquarium's Animal Care Center

It makes me feel good to do something that will hopefully save sea turtles. When I read that book that told me about sea turtles, it almost broke my heart. To know that so many turtles were being harmed in so many ways, I had to help.

Have you ever seen a sea turtle before? What did you think when you saw it?

I have seen Myrtle and the other turtles at the Aquarium. I was really impressed. They were sooooo big! I liked the symmetrical pattern on their shell - they're really amazing creatures.

Myrtle the green sea turtle—much, much larger than the young turtle in treatment

What do you think people should know about sea turtles?

If a sea turtle can avoid all of the human dangers out there, they can live to be up to 80 years old. They often return to the beach where they were born to lay their own eggs. If a beach becomes developed, or there are bright lights nearby that didn't used to be there, it can mess up the cycle.

There are lots of ways families can help sea turtles at home. For example, sometimes sea turtles eat plastic bags that end up in the ocean, thinking they are sea jellies. By using reusable bags, hopefully fewer plastic bags end up in the ocean. Do you do anything at home to help sea turtles in the wild?

When we go food shopping, we always use reusable bags. When we have balloons outside, we make sure they don't get away. Balloons can wind up in the ocean, too, and endanger turtles. We used to have a boat, and whenever we were out, we would always stop to pick up floating balloons, plastic bags or any other garbage that turtles could get in trouble with—sometimes even flip flops.

How do you make your bracelets? How long does it take to make one?

I make Rainbow Loom bracelets. The loom uses small rubber bands and a crochet hook to loop them together. There are two different styles I make - a single strand and a triple braid.

A triple-braid bracelet made by Abby, with special turtle charm

I make them extra special by adding a turtle charm, so everyone that buys them will think of turtles. It takes me about 10 minutes to make a single strand, or about 20 minutes to make a triple braid.

Interested in supporting Abby's efforts to help sea turtles? Check out her website and check out her handiwork. Thanks to Abby and her dad for taking the time to share pictures and answer our questions. We hope sharing the story about her efforts might inspire others to protect our blue planet, too. 

Abby

If you already have a bracelet and you want to do more, consider sponsoring animals at the New England Aquarium! Your support helps with medical care, food and habitat upkeep.

We are now in the midst of rehabilitating endangered sea turtles that washed up on Cape Cod beaches this fall, incapacitated with hypothermia and other ailments. 

• This year beach walkers rescued nearly 90 turtles. 
• The turtles were treated at the Aquarium's Animal Care Center in Quincy, Mass., and many were moved to partnering rescue facilities to make room for more patients. 
• Right now there are more than 40 turtles treatment at the Aquarium's facilities—mostly Kemp's ridley sea turtles and some loggerhead and green sea turtles. 

This post explains what happens after a turtle arrives from Cape Cod during it's journey to recovery. 

It starts when the volunteer rings the doorbell at the Aquarium's Animal Care Center in Quincy after a long car trip from Cape Cod. The turtles are here! The Rescue Team kicks into high gear with a flurry of staging and organizing.

Transporting turtles in banana boxes

Each turtle arrives in a banana box accompanied by its own medical chart. This chart has basic health assessments such as body temperature and heart rate. Records also indicate the turtle's ID number assigned by NOAA.

Organizing turtles and examining their charts just after arrival

Rescuers start right in by taking a close look at the charts. Each turtle is assigned an Aquarium number assigned in order of arrival. And then begins the more robust check ups, which includes another check on heart beat and body temperature. An accurate temperature is imperative when calibrating the equipment used for analyzing blood samples.

Some of the health checks start before the turtles move into the exam room. Here a rescuer is listening for the heart beat

Turtle exams, x2

Each turtle is weighed and a small amount of blood is drawn so the rescue team can evaluate blood glucose levels, among other things.

Blood is usually drawn from the turtles neck area

The rescue team also examines the turtles appearance, joints, eyes, nose, mouth and throat for any cuts, inflammation or debris. Sometimes the turtles arrive very dirty, so they also get cleaned up a bit.

A flashlight helps with careful examination of this turtle's eyes. Katie is looking for abrasions and other irritants.

Careful notes are taken at every step so the medical team and careful tailor care to each turtle's needs

These initial health exams are crucial for telling the care team how to proceed with treatments. Stay tuned to learn of next steps for the turtle patients.