Volunteers in Massachusetts have rescued around 120 "cold-stunned" sea turtles from shores on Cape Cod Bay after they were pushed ashore by strong winds.
Turtles thrive around Cape Cod during summer months, wildlife experts explain, but must migrate south to warmer waters in winter to avoid hypothermia or "cold stunning."
In a period of just 12 hours, volunteers with the Massachusetts Audubon Society pulled 120 turtles from the beaches of Brewster, Eastham, Truro and Wellfleet.
Experts said it was an unusually large stranding for so late in the year; normally the greatest numbers of turtles get stuck on local beaches around Thanksgiving during the heaviest period of southerly migration. Strong winds helped push the turtles onto beaches, and scientists noted the season's warmer than usual weather kept them alive this late into the year.
"It's normally way less than that at this time of year," said Bob Prescott, a spokesman with society's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
Most of the turtles found stranded were Kemp's ridley sea turtles, a rare and critically endangered species of sea turtle found along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico.
They are among the smallest of the world's sea turtle species, never exceeding about 28 inches long as adults. They feed on crabs, jellyfish and mollusks.
As the annual southern migration begins, young turtles are particularly at risk of being trapped by the "hook" of Cape Cod and suffering hypothermia as ocean temperatures drop, experts explained.
The surviving rescued turtles, each in a cardboard box with a blanket, were transported to Quincy, Mass., to the New England Aquarium's animal care facility.
There, researchers will spend several days bringing the turtles' bodies temperatures back up slowly so as to avoid further shock.
Eventually they will be transported to Florida for release, aquarium officials said.
Last year was a record year for turtle strandings on Cape Cod, with 1,200 stranded turtles reported.
