Eight juvenile green sea turtles are warming up at the Turtle Hospital in Marathon after being spotted in distress in unusually cold Upper Florida Keys waters.
The turtles were found in the Upper Keys on Feb. 4.
According to Turtle Hospital manager Bette Zirkelbach, all are suffering from “cold stunning,” a hypothermic reaction that occurs when sea turtles are exposed to cold water for a prolonged time.
“Here at the Turtle Hospital, we’re used to receiving cold-stunned turtles from New England, but it’s very rare to get a cold-stunned turtle from the warm waters in the Florida Keys,” she said.
Turtles start feeling effects when water temperatures drop to around 55 degrees, and anything below 50 degrees can become fatal.
“Once we saw that the (air) temperature in the Florida Keys was going to dip to the low 40s, which is really the lowest temperature in over a decade here, we began watching those water temperatures very closely,” Zirkelbach said.
After being discovered in trouble by members of the public, the juvenile turtles — ranging from 4 to 50 pounds — were rescued and transported to the Middle Keys hospital in the facility’s “turtle ambulance.”
The turtles are being gradually warmed up and given fluid treatments to help keep them hydrated. Zirkelbach expects additional cold-stunned turtles to be admitted.
“So the good news with cold-stunned turtles, if they’re found early enough, we have good success with treatment,” said Zirkelbach. “Sometimes they get pneumonia as a secondary infection, so we are going to monitor with X-rays and a CT scan, but we have a really good history with being able to warm them up and get them back out.”
Some of the rescued reptiles also have conditions like healed boat-strike injuries and tumors. After their rehabilitation — expected to take anywhere from two weeks to a year, depending upon other medical conditions — the reptiles will be released into the typically warm waters off the Keys.
According to the National Weather Service, the last time it got this cold in the Keys was in 2010. The coldest air temperature, the NWS said, was reported at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park at 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Lowest Florida Bay water temperatures ranged from the 40s to the low 50s.
