Turtle Journal

Cold-Stunned Fifty+ Pound Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Chipping-ice-off-windshield temperature and a blistering wind scouring bayside beaches at 20 knots, these represent perfect conditions in mid-December to find semi-tropical loggerhead sea turtles stranded on Cape Cod.  The bay was white-capped and frothy; breakers, swelled by a new moon high tide, devoured the beach and ate into the toe of the dunes.  Yep.  Couldn’t be better to rescue the remaining live loggerheads trapped in Cape Cod Bay by frigid water temperatures.  With a west southwesterly blow, Turtle Journal calculated that turtles would most likely be found at Ryder and Fisher Beaches in Truro.  So, off sped Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus the Turtle Dog to greet the noonish tide in search of troubled loggerheads.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle Swamped in Truro Surf

South of Ryder Landiing, they spotted the carapace of a loggerhead sea turtle swamped by pounding surf, the helpless animal submerged beneath the waves.  Sue dashed into the near freezing water and dragged this 50+ pound loggerhead to safety.  With the tide still rising, she lugged the critter higher and higher up the disappearing beach, no easy feat even with Rufus barking encouragement and supervising the rescue operation.

Rescued 50+ Pound Cold-Stunned Loggerhead

When your back’s aching and toes are frozen numb, it’s hard to realize that these heavy, cumbersome turtles are actually still young juveniles who will quintuple their mass, at least, before reaching sexual maturity.  Thank the gods of nature that this cold-stunning process is a one time shot for loggerheads as they sow their wild juvenile oats.  Rescuing 50 or 60 several hundred pound, dead weight, cold-stunned loggerheads a year would literally and figuratively break our backs.  It’s tough enough when they hit the scales in the 50 to 100 pound range!

Second Rescued Loggerhead with CNN Cameraman

The Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary was called to recover the loggerhead with its turtle cart.  Sue covered the animal with dry seaweed to prevent any additional hyperthermia, and continued her patrol along the beach.  Within a few hundred feet, she and Rufus discovered a second 50+ pound loggerhead and dragged it far above the high water mark.  When the sanctuary team arrived, they were accompanied by a CNN photo-journalist to document the cold-stunning turtle rescue process.  He interviewed Sue on camera for about five minutes to capture the inside story on sea turtle rescues in the Great White North.

Third Cold-Stunned Loggerhead at Fisher Beach

With the recovery team and the photo-journalist gone, Sue and Rufus hopped in the car and headed north to the next landing at Fisher Beach.  We calculated that with two loggerheads at Ryder, there was a strong possibility of another along this west facing shoreline.  Sure enough, about a half mile south of Fisher, they found a third 50+ pound, cold-stunned loggerhead.

Loggerhead Missing Left Rear Flipper

Like the first two, this loggerhead was still alive.  While examining the specimen, Sue discovered that it had a missing (and healed) left rear flipper.  We called the Sanctuary again and Dennis Murley, a valued friend and colleage of many years, zipped up Route 6 to Truro with the turtle cart to speed this sea turtle to treatment.

Rufus and Cold-Stunned Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Loggerhead sea turtles, even these “juveniles,” are massive and powerful animals.  Despite their cold stunned state, they can inflict quite a bruise when they swing their flippers.  We liken them to tanks, for when left overnight in dry dock, they have been known to turn over every piece of furniture in the room.  You get a sense of their massive frame in comparison to 80 pound Rufus standing guard as she waits for the recovery team to arrive.

Rescuing Cold-Stunned Loggerhead Sea Turtles

Finding three LIVE cold-stunned loggerheads on a mid-December day is a special and memorable event.  Congratulations to Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus, turtle rescuers extraordinaire!

Cold-Stunned Juvenile Loggerhead-Green Hybrid

Wind and surf continue to pound Cape Cod Bay beaches, depositing cold-stunned sea turtles with each high tide in numbers beginning to presage a record stranding season.  Turtle Journal’s Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus chugged out to Brewster this morning and searched the shoreline east of Saints Landing.

Rufus Finds Juvenile Loggerhead-Green Hybrid

As they approached Breakwater, Rufus spotted a helpless sea turtle trapped in the forthy surf.  Sue and Rufus plunged into the waves and lugged this young hybrid to safety … with Sue providing the muscle and Rufus barking encouragement.

Stranded Loggerhead-Green Hybrid in Brewster

Out of danger from the surf, the juvenile sea turtle responded to Sue’s touch with positive signs of life.  Clearly, an unusual specimen, Sue examined it carefully to determine its species.  The massive neck musculature indicated loggerhead, but shell patterns and shape seemed to point to a green sea turtle.  Later, at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Director Bob Prescott and Sue settled on a preliminary identification of this sea turtle as a hybrid loggerhead-green.  Bob took a tissue sample for DNA analysis.

Small Juvenile Loggerhead-Green Sea Turtle

For rudimentary field measurement, Sue put her sneaker near the turtle’s carapace to get an approximate size; in this case, maybe around 14 inches straight-line length.  Yet, with its massive muscles, it weighed more than 15 pounds and took a yeoman’s effort for Sue to lug it nearly a mile from the beach to the Turtle Journal car.  The juvenile hybrid will be transported to the New England Aquarium for treatment.

Sue Wieber Nourse and Rescued Kemp’s Ridley

Freezing and blustery … in other words, perfect conditions to rescue cold-stunned sea turtles in the Great White North.  Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus the Turtle Dog headed to Outer Cape Cod this morning, targeting Saints Landing in Brewster as the most likely spot to find a stranded sea turtle with frigid winds pounding out of the north-northwest.

Cold-Stunned Juvenile Kemp’s Ridley in Brewster

They headed east at Saints Landing and just before reaching the impassable, flooded area near Breakwater, Sue spotted the pinkish, white plastron of a Kemp’s ridley helpless and tossed upside down in the stormy surf.  This 2-to-3 year old juvenile weighed about six pounds.  Pinkish coloration confirms cold-stunning, as blood pools ventrally when the heart rate drops to only a couple of beats a minute.

Rufus Guards Juvenile Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

Once Sue recovered the turtle from the pounding surf, it quickly responded with lively movement, indicating an excellent candidate for rehabilitation and return to the wild.  Rufus stood guard as Turtle Journal notified Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary that Sue would be bringing the turtle to Wellfleet for transport to the New England Aquarium.

Cold-Stunned Jvenie Kemp’s Ridley in Cape Cod Bay

Kemp’s ridleys are one of the most endangered sea turtles in the world.  As part of their natural life cycle they drift north as hatchlings from their natal sites in the Gulf of Mexico, catching a ride on sargasso mats in the Gulf Stream.  Around age two or three, they leave the Gulf Stream and transition to a benthic habitat by swimming west to the coast.  Those that hit the U.S. north of Massachusetts have to contend with the giant arm of Cape Cod as they begin to migrate south with dropping water temperatures.  Each fall juveniles get trapped in Cape Cod Bay by cold waters, become cold-stunned and are eventually driven ashore like flotsam and jetsam in stormy conditions. 

Cold-Stunned Kemp’s Ridley Shows Signs of Life

If we can rescue them from beaches before hypothermia finishes them off, these critcally endangered turtles can be rehabilitated and returned to the wild to restore diminished populations. At each high tide in the very worst of weather conditions, rescuers scour beaches facing the prevailing winds in search of stranded turtles.

Juvenile Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle En Route to Rehabilitation

For this lucky Kemp’s ridley, Sue and Rufus were at the right spot at the right time, just as it hit the shore.  So, this turtle’s chances for survival are very good.  And in the case of critcally endangered species like the Kemp’s ridley, saving one juvenile at a time really means saving their whole world.

Rufus Guards Rescued Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Frigid conditions and a brisk westerly wind signaled a perfect morning for sea turtle patrol on Outer Cape Cod.  With a west breeze, Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus the Turtle Dog headed for the long, westerly facing Cape Cod Bay beaches of Truro to check for cold-stunned sea turtles.  Half a mile south of Ryder Beach landing, they rescued a large, 60-pound loggerhead stranded in conditions unfit and unsafe for any self-respecting, semi-tropical sea turtle.

60-Pound Loggerhead Sea Turtle Cold-Stunned in Truro Surf

Wind and surf tossed the turtle upside down, pinning it in a dangerous and life-threatening position.  Its head was submerged, taking on water and sand as each breaker crashed.  Undaunted by brutal conditions, Sue and Rufus charged into the icy water and pulled 60 pounds of slippery, “dead” weight to the shore and safety.

Rescued Loggerhead Sea Turtle @ Ryder Beach in Truro

Once on land, the loggerhead exhibited signs of life.  Sue examined the sea turtle, documenting a lively community of epibiota clinging to its massive carapace.  She assessed this loggerhead in relatively good condition, considering the trying circumstances.  In accordance with rescue protocol for cold-stunned sea turtles, Turtle Journal notified Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 and Bob Prescott, the director, drove to Truro to meet up with Sue and Rufus and to retrieve the hefty loggerhead.  The turtle is now destined for the New England Aquarium for treatment and rehabilitation.

Perfect Terrapin Hatchlings Salvaged from Dead Mother

It takes more, much more, than research to save a species.  It takes dedication, commitment and, yes, courage of entire communities to intervene in seemingly small and yet sometimes heroic ways to turn the tide of extinction.  Turtle Journal gets to meet these local heroes every day, and on occasion, we have the opportunity to tell their tale.  Today’s story is about Mike Maurer and how his action brought life from death; not too shabby a feat for this SouthCoast everyman.

Twelve-Year-Old Female Terrapin Crushed by Traffic

On June 26th, a youngish, 12-year-old female diamondback terrapin came ashore from the Weweantic estuary to nest.  To her misfortune, she chose the busy Route 6 highway as her entry point.  Tragically, she was run over by summer traffic, struck with such force that her head was mangled and her shell pancaked, crushing the birth canal and squirting eggs across the road.  Unsurprisingly, most eggs were crushed instantly; few survived the ordeal.  Mike spotted the turtle and risked life and limb to snatch her up between speeding cars, in hopes that she might be saved.  He whisked her to Turtle Journal.  But sadly, she was mortally injured.

Salvaged Eggs, Cleaned and Ready to Plant

With the help of Turtle Journal’s Sue Wieber Nourse, four eggs were salvaged from the disaster.  They were cleaned and gently planted in a protected nest within our “turtle garden” to incubate in safety throughout the summer.  Honestly, considering the trauma they had endured, we had little real expectation of their survival.  Yet, you’d think that Turtle Journal of all people would have learned that you should never underestimate the powerful life force of turtles.

Three Pipped Terrapin Babies in Egg Chamber

On Friday afternoon, September 14th, Don Lewis checked their nest to see if the eggs had survived.  He gently brushed away layers of sand with his fingers to ensure no harm to these fragile eggs.  About three inches deep, Don encountered a discolored egg shard and suspected the worst:  the eggs had never developed.  Yet with his next stroke, sadness turned to pure joy.  He saw the unmistakable pattern of a tiny terrapin carapace and soon uncovered three beautiful pipped hatchling, fully and perfectly developed and waiting to take on the world.

Three Energetic Babies Preserve Momma’s DNA

Admittedly, as I finished the excavation, I searched for memorable names with which to tag these miracle babies.  Lazarus came to mind among a handful of monikers from Greek mythology.  But after but a few moments watching their antics, the only name that really applied was … forgive me … the Three Stooges.  They tumbled one over the other, they shoved hand across the face of sibling to climb on top, and generally they were as comical a threesome as you could possibly imagine.  And so, in my mind, “Three Stooges” stuck.

On a more serious note, because of enormous egg and hatchling predation, it takes a mature female diamondback terrapin more than a decade of egg production simply to replace herself.  It takes another decade to replace her partner, and it takes about a decade before she reaches maturity.  So, nearly thirty years transpire simply for the population to break even.  Losing a young female is a tragedy for a species on the cusp of local extirpation in Buzzards Bay.  Thanks to Mike Maurer, we have a chance to preserve this female’s DNA for the ages.  And with the dedicated intervention of such heroes on the South Coast, we have an opportunity to reverse what seemed like the inevitable extinction of diamondback terrapins within our community.