The New England Aquarium released eight critically endangered sea turtles into the waters off of Cape Cod Tuesday morning, months after they were rescued, officials from the New England Aquarium said. “It was a beautiful morning for a sea turtle release, especially the first one,” said Adam Kennedy, director of rescue and rehabilitation at the Aquarium, in an interview Tuesday. “We couldn’t have asked for a better one.
” The eight Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, a critically endangered species, were released just after 7 a.m. Tuesday morning into the waters of Nantucket Sound off West Dennis Beach.
Most of the turtles, who are juveniles between the age of one and three, had been with Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy since early November or December, and some even longer, Kennedy said. Advertisement Kennedy said as the turtles approached the water, they could smell the ocean, which stirred up considerable “excitement” in their transport boxes. A small crowd, smiles abound, gathered on the beach as the turtles were taken out of the boxes and flapped their fins, Kennedy said.
The sea was “calm and flat,” he said, as staff members and volunteers carried the animals to the water. “It’s a great way to start the day watching these animals go back into the water,” Kennedy said. The released turtles included Electric Daisy, Dragon’s Breath, Lady Slipper, Dahlia, Cosmos, Lily Pad, Catmint, and Turtlehead, according to a statement from the New England Aqu.