25 Sea Turtles From New England Aquarium Released Into Ocean After Being Rescued Off Cape Cod
BOSTON (CBS) - Twenty-five Kemp's ridley sea turtles that were rescued and rehabilitated by the New England Aquarium after they washed ashore on Cape Cod have been released back into the ocean.
According to the Aquarium, they were brought to North Carolina Tuesday and released into the warm waters off Fort Macon State Park in Carteret County.
The endangered turtles, which were among the hundreds of cold-stunned turtles that have washed ashore on the Cape in the last year, spent the last four to six months at the Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy.
The Aquarium says the turtles were treated for "a variety of life-threatening medical conditions that resulted from weeks of hypothermia and the inability to feed during stranding season."
They were taken to North Carolina by volunteer pilots with the non-profit organization Turtles Fly Too at the Marshfield Airport.
Overall, three planes took the 25 turtles from the New England Aquarium, along with nine more turtles from the National Marine Life Center and Mystic Aquarium.
