BOSTON – After months undergoing rehabilitative care for life-threatening injuries at the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital, 12 sea turtles were released Tuesday evening back into the waters off Cape Cod. The five Kemp’s ridleys, four loggerheads, and three green sea turtles were the first group of rehabilitated sea turtles released by the aquarium this summer.
For the past seven months, staff at the aquarium’s sea turtle hospital in Quincy treated the hypothermic turtles for a variety of life-threatening medical conditions, including pneumonia, dehydration, and trauma. Staff veterinarians cleared the sea turtles to return to Nantucket Sound from West Dennis Beach, where the water temperature recently crossed the 65-degree threshold for the turtles to reacclimate in the ocean, according to aquarium staff.
Loggerhead and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are threatened or endangered species, facing threats including climate change, ocean pollution, and degradation of their habitats. Rescue and rehabilitation efforts help to conserve these species.
“As we complete the first sea turtle release of the season, I’m reminded what this rescue and rehabilitation work makes possible,” said Adam Kennedy, director of rescue and rehabilitation at the New England Aquarium. “We dedicate months to the turtles’ recovery, and seeing them return to their ocean home off Cape Cod is the goal. This work is critical to the long-term survival of these species.”
Scientists from the aquarium’s research arm, the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, worked with the rescue team to tag the turtles for post-release monitoring. The tags collect information about the turtles’ behavior, habitat use, and survivorship, which helps inform sea turtle conservation and protection efforts, especially in New England where little is known about these species.
This season, the team is using a combination of satellite tags for real-time data and acoustic tags for longer-term tracking; some of the turtles will be added to the aquarium’s sea turtle tracker for the public to follow their journey. This sea turtle work is permitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Aquarium staff, volunteers, and interns have a tradition of naming the turtles receiving long-term care, with this year’s theme being font-inspired names. Turtles released this past week include Helvetica, Pretty Pretty Princess, Rage Italic and Verdana.
During the 2025 cold-stunning season, the aquarium treated nearly 500 live sea turtles that were rescued from the shores of Cape Cod from November to December by staff and volunteers with Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Getting these turtles back to full health requires a collaborative effort between biologists, veterinarians and researchers, according to aquarium staff.
There are 29 turtles remaining at the aquarium’s Quincy facility, which will be released off Cape Cod this summer once medically cleared by aquarium veterinarians.