20 Endangered Sea Turtles Rescued On Cape Recovering In Florida

BARNSTABLE, MA — Twenty endangered sea turtles found cold-stunned off the Coast of Cape Cod were rescued and are recovering in Florida.

The turtles were juvenile Kemp's ridleys, the most endangered species of sea turtles in the world. During the fall and winter months, it's common for sea turtles, including Kemp's ridleys, to suffer hypothermia-like symptoms and become cold-stunned. Cold-stunning often happens in Cape Cod Bay, as water temperatures decrease.

But where the turtles are now, they won't have to worry about the cold. Animal rescuers with the nonprofit Turtles Fly Too flew the turtles to the Marathon Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys, the Boston Globe reported.

"These sea turtles are at the Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys to warm up just like the tourists that come to the Keys to warm up,” Hospital manager Bette Zirkelbach told the Globe. "The Kemp's ridley is the most critically endangered sea turtle in the world, so it’s important to help these little ones survive."

For more on this story, check out the Boston Globe.