[ti:Saving Sea Turtles on Northeastern US Coast]
[al:Science & Technology]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-12-11]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Over the last 20 years, the number of stranded sea turtles has increased in the waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.
[00:12.90]As a result, special animal hospitals in the New England area are now treating many sea turtles.
[00:22.58]Some kinds of these animals are highly endangered.
[00:27.69]The turtles enter waters such as Cape Cod Bay when the weather is warm. 
[00:35.48]But when temperatures drop, they cannot escape to head south, said Adam Kennedy.
[00:43.92]He is the director of rescue and rehabilitation at the New England Aquarium.
[00:51.99]The aquarium operates a turtle hospital in Quincy, Massachusetts.
[00:57.91]On December 3, Kennedy said more than 200 young turtles needed to be treated there.
[01:06.24]The animals had been stunned by the cold.
[01:11.68]The cold-stunned sea turtles wash up on the shores of Cape Cod every fall and winter. 
[01:19.08]Kennedy said aquarium workers expect the number of turtles that they rescue to climb to at least 400.
[01:30.87]He said the average in 2010 was 40.
[01:35.56]Kennedy said, "Climate change certainly is allowing those numbers of turtles to get in where normally the numbers weren't very high years ago." 
[01:50.11]He added that high winds and falling temperatures caused the recent strandings.
[01:57.30]In the early 2010s, the five-year average of cold-stunned sea turtles in Massachusetts was around 200. 
[02:08.96]In recent years, that number has grown to more than 700. 
[02:15.27]These numbers come from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[02:22.76]All the turtles at the New England Aquarium's hospital are young.
[02:29.21]Most are the highly endangered Kemp's ridley turtles. 
[02:34.92]The migration of these turtles often causes them to become stranded in the New England area. 
[02:42.78]But some are green turtles or loggerheads which are not as endangered.
[02:51.78]Kemp's ridley is the world's smallest sea turtle.
[02:55.78]The turtles mostly live in the Gulf of Mexico. 
[03:01.77]But they travel into the northern Atlantic Ocean when young. 
[03:06.47]A 2019 study in the scientific publication PLoS One said ocean warming increases the chance that turtles will become stunned by the cold in the waters of the Northwest Atlantic. 
[03:24.73]The study said warmer water might push the turtles north in a way that makes stranding more likely.
[03:34.44]Melissa Joblon is director of animal health at the New England Aquarium.
[03:42.33]She said most turtles that arrive at the center are sick: "The majority of the turtles arrive with serious ailments such as pneumonia, dehydration, traumatic injuries, or sepsis."
[04:00.49]The turtle hospital treats the animals so they can be returned to the wild. 
[04:06.18]Kennedy said they are put in local waters or even taken south to warmer waters. 
[04:14.58]He said about 80 percent survive.
[04:18.45]"At the end of the day," Kennedy said, "getting these turtles back to the wild is what we are doing and what we want. We want them back in the ocean."
[04:30.61]I'm Anna Matteo.