Extrmely rare leatherback turtle rescued
Published: November 3, 2005
An extremely rare, 350-pound sea turtle was rescued from a Cape Cod beach and taken to the New England Aquarium.
The 5-foot female leatherback turtle arrived at the aquarium on Tuesday night after stranding on a beach in Dennis two days in a row. The turtle’s condition was described as “very inactive, lethargic” and critical.
Leatherbacks are endangered and strandings of even dead turtles are rare, because their primary habitat is the open ocean, aquarium officials said.
There has not been a live leatherback in the aquarium building for more than 30 years.
There have been about six live strandings on the Cape over the past 25 years and all but one were near death, usually from injury due to a boat strike or fishing gear entanglement, aquarium officials said.
Leatherbacks are the world’s largest turtle with some adults reaching more than 2,000 pounds.
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