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The rare Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle was discovered on the evening of Saturday, July 1, on the South Shore of Long Island at Atlantic Beach, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said.
Kemp’s Ridley is the most critically endangered species of sea turtle, according to wildlife experts. They are typically found in the Gulf of Mexico but occasionally make their way as far north as Nova Scotia.
An Environmental Conservation Police Officer arrived at the beach and made sure that nobody touched the turtle, which can further stress or injure the animals.
The turtle was picked up by a volunteer at the New York Marine Rescue Center (NYMRC), where it will spend the next six to nine months undergoing rehabilitation at the organization’s Riverhead facility before being released.
The NYMRC has rescued over 2,200 sea turtles - a mix of Kemp’s ridleys, loggerheads, leatherback, and greens - which can become stranded due to a number of issues like vessel strikes, entanglement, or cold stunning.
Once the turtles are ready to be released back into the ocean, they are fitted with flipper and passive integrated transponders (PIT) tags. Some also get satellite tags, which allow researchers to track them in real time.
One juvenile Atlantic green sea turtle spent nine months at the facility after being found cold-stunned near Iron Pier Beach in Riverhead in November 2019.
The turtle, which the team dubbed “Tortellini,” was also found to have small injuries on its left flippers and was missing a portion of a back flipper.
After undergoing rehabilitation and receiving medication, the turtle was fitted with a satellite tag and released back into the ocean at Tiana Beach in Hampton Bays in August 2020.
“With this satellite tag, we were able to track this animal's post-release movement for almost eight months! Tortellini’s tag last pinged off the coast of Georgia on March 5th, 2021,” the NYMRC said on its website.
“Understanding where animals are going once they are released helps us better understand habitat use and movement patterns for these threatened species.”
You can learn more about conservation efforts and track sea turtles in real time on the New York Marine Rescue Center’s website.
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