Stranded Sea Turtles Rehabilitated and Released in Cape Cod: How to Help Them and Why it Matters

By Kasandra Kutzer

On June 25th, over a dozen rehabilitated sea turtles from the New England Aquarium were released at West Dennis Beach after recovering from being stranded and cold-stunned. When a sea turtle is stranded, that means it has been found in poor physical condition or deceased on land or in water and needs assistance from professionals to return to the wild. In the case of these sea turtles, they were found with injuries such as a severely damaged jaw and health complications resulting from cold-stunning. A sea turtle is cold-stunned when it is found floating in the water weakened and less mobile due to being exposed to low temperatures. This may have caused these turtles to become stranded by drifting onto land. This results in sea turtles requiring treatment for conditions such as dehydration, pneumonia, and hypothermia. These cold-stunning and stranding events may occur due to the increasing periods of warm water, allowing sea turtles to enter the bay later than usual, and giving them less time to leave before the water temperature drops during the fall. Sadly, this explanation has yet to be fully proven, so there is no sure way to stop these events yet.

In the past few years, hundreds of sea turtles have been stranded per year. Scientists predict that, due to climate change, there could be thousands of sea turtle strandings annually by 2030. This increasing number of sea turtle strandings is particularly worrisome given that they are already at risk. Each of the sea turtles rescued from Cape Cod belonged to one of three species: Kemp Ridley’s Turtle, Green Turtle, or Loggerhead Turtle. Both the Green Turtles and the Loggerhead Turtles living in the Atlantic are listed as threatened, while the Kemp Ridley’s Turtle is listed as endangered. When an animal is endangered, it means that in all or much of a particular habitat, the animal is at significant risk of going extinct. On the other hand, a species being threatened means that it is at risk of becoming endangered soon. Thus, these turtles must be protected in order to prevent their extinction, especially when considering the important roles they play in their environment. Sea turtles are a keystone species, given that their feeding habits help regulate the populations of their prey, including sponges, jellyfish, and seagrass. A keystone species refers to animals that have a large impact on the makeup of an ecosystem. In other words, if these sea turtles were to thrive, the balance of the ecosystems they participate in would be maintained to a considerable degree. By protecting these animals, we would also be helping to protect the ocean as a whole. 

So, what can we do about this? There are many ways our community can help protect these sea turtles. One way to get involved is to help support the organizations that rescue and rehabilitate stranded turtles. In this case, that would be the New England Aquarium. One way to support the aquarium is by volunteering for them. In fact, many of the people who released these sea turtles on West Dennis Beach were volunteers. You can also donate to the New England Aquarium and help fund their efforts to protect sea turtles and other marine wildlife. Another way you can contribute to the aquarium’s funding is by simply paying a visit, as the proceeds from buying a ticket are used to support this cause. This is a great way to get involved in protecting the sea turtles while having fun, especially if you enjoy seeing all kinds of marine wildlife. 

Although it is unknown if rising ocean temperatures are causing the increase in sea turtle strandings and cold-stunning, it is worthwhile to help preserve the turtles by supporting efforts to reduce global warming, if not to mitigate other problems faced by sea turtles resulting from climate change. One way to do this is by supporting state initiatives to use sustainable energy instead of fossil fuels. For example, you could contact your representatives and urge them to support legislation such as the 100% Clean Act and the Solar Neighborhoods Act. Successful passage of the 100% Clean Act would result in Massachusetts making a full transition to renewable electricity in ten years and a full transition to renewable transit and heating in twenty years. The Solar Neighborhoods Act being passed would lead to all new homes and businesses in Massachusetts being equipped with solar power. These laws would lead to a significant reduction in fossil fuel use by the state of Massachusetts, which would reduce the carbon emissions largely responsible for climate change. Other legislation you can support, such as the Better Buildings Act and GREEN Act, will ensure that buildings will be upgraded to use energy more efficiently. Alternatively, if you want to reduce emissions from your own home, you can get a home energy assessment with full or partial coverage from the state government. This will help you determine if you need work done on your house to reduce energy use, ranging from improved insulation to more efficient water heating. 

You can also make your home’s energy use cleaner by installing solar panels. Our community can further reduce carbon emissions by switching to electric vehicles. This includes encouraging the public to drive electric vehicles as well as using electric buses for public transportation. Finally, the people of Massachusetts can reduce the use of fossil fuels by using fewer disposable plastic products, as their production involves the use of fossil fuels and is thus emissions-intensive. Along with managing personal use, there are many pieces of legislation that you can support that will reduce the sale of plastic and increase recycling rates, such as updating the state’s current Bottle Bill to implement deposit stations that include more container types and dispense more change.

Another way to help sea turtles is to respond to strandings if you see them. When you find a stranded sea turtle, make sure you do not approach or try to handle the animal and report it to the area’s network. If the stranding occurred here in Massachusetts, you should either call the Northeast Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding and Entanglement Hotline, the Massachusetts Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, or the New England Aquarium. These professionals will provide the care necessary to rehabilitate these turtles. Such personnel are trained to determine the right course of action when rescuing a stranded animal, providing it with adequate care, and deciding if and when it should be released back into the wild.

By rescuing and releasing these ecologically important sea turtles back into the wild, the New England Aquarium and its supporters have contributed to the well-being of the Northwest Atlantic’s ecosystem. By contributing to the efforts of the aquarium to help animals in need, and to the broader efforts of the community to keep our oceans temperate and clean, you can make a difference for sea turtles like these and other marine wildlife. Such support can change our oceans for the better by preserving important, keystone species, including sea turtles. Next time you visit an aquarium, support environmental legislation, or drink from a reusable water bottle instead of a plastic one, remember that you are helping to save the lives of animals crucial to the health of our ocean ecosystems.

Citations

1. Barnes, J. (2025, June 25). Stranded off Cape Cod last winter, 17 sea turtles return to the ocean. Maine Public. https://www.mainepublic.org/2025-06-25/stranded-off-cape-cod-last-winter-17-sea-turtles-return-to-the-ocean

2. Churchill, L. (2023, November 17). Four steps Massachusetts can take to tackle the climate crisis. Environment Massachusetts. https://environmentamerica.org/massachusetts/articles/four-steps-massachusetts-can-take-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis/ 

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5. McCarron, H. (2025, June 25). Rescued sea turtles return to wild in Dennis. Here’s why they needed rescuing months ago. Cape Cod Times. https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/environment/2025/06/25/endangered-sea-turtles-west-dennis-beach-cape-cod-ma-new-england-aquarium/84334990007/ 

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10. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2025, May 29). Loggerhead Turtle. NOAA Fisheries. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/loggerhead-turtle 

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