Christine Shreves, from Wellfleet finds a Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle at Great Hollow beach on Cape Cod in November. Each winter on the inner shores of Cape Cod endangered sea turtles including Greens, Loggerheads and Kemp's Ridleys wash up stunned by the cold ocean temperatures and disoriented from the hook-like shape of the geography. With the help from volunteers and biologists at Mass Audubon and the New England Aquarium, the turtles are rescued, rehabilitated and flown to their destination to be released into warmer waters.

On June 17, 2021, the far eastern hook over Provincetown Cape Cod rounds back into the bay towards the Massachusetts southern coastline creating an almost spiral shape cradling the inner beaches of Cape Cod Bay.

Volunteers with Mass Audubon search Cold Storage beach on Cape Cod during a blustery November night in 2020, just after the high tide in search of endangered cold-stunned sea turtles. The number of strandings has risen drastically over the past five years because ocean temperatures are warming. Cape Cod, which is in the Gulf of Maine is the fastest-warming body of water in the world and waters aren’t getting colder until later in the fall every year. Sea turtles feed here in the summer months and when temperatures drop to around 50 degrees, they head south and become trapped by the Cape’s hook-like shape, which some locals call “The Deadly Bucket,” causing chronic hypothermia and in some cases death.

On November 20, 2020, Krill Carson, President and Founder of the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance and volunteer with Mass Audubon since the 1980’s, finds a cold-stunned juvenile Kemp’s Ridly sea turtle at Cold Storage beach on Cape Cod after the sun sets on a cold November evening.

Bill Allan, Wellfleet Bay volunteer, rescues a young endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle who washed up hypothermic on First Encounter beach on Cape Cod in November of 2020. “I have been doing this for 20 years. Once I found my first one I was hooked. It was a life changing event. Even now every one is exiting,” says Allan. Every summer sea turtles visit Cape Cod bay, however if the turtles do not migrate out in time they get stuck and disoriented as they start to slowly freeze to death. The amount of stranded turtles is increasing due to the doubled edge sword of both successful conservation efforts on nesting beaches and climate change which makes the Gulf of Maine one of the fastest warming bodies of water in the world. This allows the turtles to stay a dangerously long into the fall when the ocean temperatures drop dramatically.

Nancy Braun, from Truro walks her dog Halo, a black and white border collie, to look for stranded sea turtles on Great Hallow beach on Cape Cod in early December of 2020.

Nancy Braun, from Truro, her dog Halo and a few other people find four stranded sea turtles on Great Hallow beach on Cape Cod in early December of 2020.

Bill Allan, volunteer, calls Mass Audubon from his car to let them know of the time and location of turtle he found on First Encounter beach on Cape Cod in November of 2020.

Boxes of cold-stunned sea turtles sit in a cool room at Mass Audubon in Wellfleet Cape Cod after being processed.

Gabbie Nicoletta, Animal Care, Necropsy and Operations Coordinator at the National Marine Life Center watches one of the cold-stunned sea turtle start to recover and swim around in the tank at the rehabilitation center in Bourn Massachusetts in December of 2020.

Workers at Mass Audubon in Wellfleet Cape Cod process a hypothermic Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle after being rescued from the icy waters of Cape Cod in November.

Hannah Crawford, left Intern with the New England Aquarium and Jessica Cramp, right Intern with the New England Aquarium holds a cold-stunned Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle up to photograph the condition of their underside for record keeping and care monitoring.

Veterinary staff at the New England Aquariums Rehabilitation facility in Quincy Massachusetts examine the x-rays of injured Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle in December.

Lauren Jaeger, left Intern with the New England Aquarium and Kristen Luise, right Clinical Intern with the New England Aquarium, listen to the heartbeat of a hypothermic Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle at the New England Aquariums rehabilitation center in Quincy in November.

Workers at Mass Audubon scan a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle for tags after being rescued from the icy waters of Cape Cod in November of 2017. With the help from volunteers and biologists at Mass Audubon and the New England Aquarium, the turtles are rescued, rehabilitated and flown to their destination to be released into warmer waters. About 90 percent of the stranded turtles are endangered Kemp’s Ridleys.

A Kemp’s Ridley swims in a holding tank where the turtles are slowly acclimated to warmer waters inside The New England Aquariums Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Quincy, the oldest of its kind in the world on December 2, 2016.

120 cold-stunned endangered sea turtles, most of which are Kemp’s Ridleys, are packed into a plane and are flown to several locations in Texas from Massachusetts by the nonproffit organization Turtles Fly Too in December. This is the largest private flight transport in the nation to date.

Charles Yanke, Volunteer Pilot with Turtles Fly Too from Milwaukee loads 74 engendered cold-stunned sea turtles, 72 Kemp’s Ridley and 2 Greens, into his plane at Shoreline Aviation in Marshfield Massachusetts to be transported out of state for further rehabilitation. Several ended up at the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Florida.

An endangered cold-stunned Kemp’s Ridley rests inside a banana packed into a plane and are flown to several locations in Texas from Massachusetts by the nonproffit organization Turtles Fly Too in December. This is the largest private flight transport in the nation to date.

Staff with Shoreline Aviation careful load endangered cold-stunned sea turtles inside banana boxes into a plane with Turtles Fly Too at Shoreline Aviation in Marshfield Massachusetts to be transported out of state for further rehabilitation.

An endangered cold-stunned Kemp’s Ridley rests inside a banana packed into a plane and are flown to several locations in Texas from Massachusetts by the nonproffit organization Turtles Fly Too in December. This is the largest private flight transport in the nation to date.

Gina D’andraia, checks the temperature inside the banana boxes filled with 16 endangered sea turtles ready for release after weeks of rehabilitation on May 25, 2021 at Shoreline air field in Marshfield, MA. The turtles are bound to North Carolina where they will be released back into the warmer ocean waters.

On Mat 25, 2021, Ed Filangeri, a New York Dentist and Volunteer Pilot with Turtles Fly Too, loads 16 cold-stunned engendered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles into his plane at Shoreline Aviation in Marshfield Massachusetts to be released in North Carolina.

On May 25, 2021, a community member and beach-goer holds one of 34 endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle bring int into the ocean for release at Fort Macon State Park in North Carolina in March.

On March 20, 2021 an associate with the Houston Zoo holds one of approximately 85 endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle down a crowded corridor with bystanders towards the ocean for release at Galveston beach in Texas.

On March 20, 2021 an associate with the Sea Life Aquarium holds one of approximately 85 endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle in the ocean for release at Galveston beach in Texas in March.

On May 25, 2021, at Fort Macon State Park a Kemp’s Ridley is released into the warm North Carolina waters after weeks of rehabilitation and being rescued from freezing to death on the shores of Cape Cod in November.

On March 20, 2021, a staff member of the Houston Zoo gives the thumbs up as one of the 85 endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle swims out of sight at the Galveston beach in Texas after weeks of rehabilitation.

In March 21, 2021, at Padre Island National Seashore in Corpus Christi Texas a volunteer carries an endangered Kemp’s Ridley to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico for release after months of rehabilitation from almost freezing to death on the shores of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.