As Stranding Season Begins, Mass Audubon Asks for the Public’s Help in Keeping Sea Turtles Safe

Mass Audubon, the largest nature-based organization in New England, said the first cold-stunned sea turtle of the 2025 stranding season was rescued over the weekend and is asking for the public’s health to keep sea turtles safe as sea turtles begin to wash on Cape beaches.

Although four species (Kemp’s ridley, Loggerhead, Green, and Leatherback) of threatened or endangered sea turtles enjoy the warm waters of the tropics, they travel north into Cape Cod Bay and the Gulf of Maine every summer to feed in our nutrient-rich waters. In the fall, as daylight shortens and water temperatures drop, sea turtles along our coasts begin to make their way south to warmer, subtropical and tropical waters. Some of these immature sea turtles become “trapped” by the hooked shape of Cape Cod, and others just don’t move south quickly enough. 

As the water continues to cool, turtles become lethargic and hypothermic, in a condition called “cold-stunned,” and they are unable to swim or eat. Onshore winds wash them onto beaches, mostly along the shore of Cape Cod Bay. Cold-stunned sea turtle strandings mainly take place from November to mid-January, beginning when the ocean temperatures fall below 55° F. Most of them are juvenile Kemp’s ridleys, the smallest and rarest of the sea turtles, although Greens and Loggerheads also strand. Giant Leatherbacks do not become cold-stunned and strand, but the stranded Kemp’s ridleys, Greens and Loggerheads range in size from smaller than a dinner plate to approximately manhole cover size.

Although it is imperative to rescue these stranded turtles as quickly as possible, residents and visitors should know that because these animals fall under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, it is illegal to interfere with them in any way without a permit.

If you come across a stranded sea turtle on the beach, please follow these simple steps:

1.      Do not assume it is dead because even turtles that appear lifeless are often still alive.

2.      Do not put the sea turtle back in the water.

3.      Carefully move the turtle above the high tide line. Never grab or hold the turtle by the head or flippers.

4.      Cover it completely with seaweed or wrack—never cover it with sand.

5.      Mark it with an obvious piece of debris like buoys, or driftwood, or draw a big arrow towards it, or a circle in the sand.

6.      Call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary hotline immediately at 508-349-2615, Option 2, and await further instructions.

Since 1979, Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay staff and annual corps of more than 200 trained volunteers have patrolled the beaches of Cape Cod, especially during high tide, working under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit. When sea turtles are found, trained staff members and volunteers retrieve it and bring it to Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary where it is processed, and its body temperature stabilized before being transported to rehabilitation sites like the New England Aquarium’s Animal Care Center in Quincy.