[ti:Saving Sea Turtles on Northeastern US Coast]
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[00:00.04]Over the last 20 years,
[00:02.60]the number of stranded sea turtles
[00:05.44]has increased in the waters
[00:08.00]off the northeastern coast
[00:10.32]of the United States.
[00:13.08]As a result, special animal hospitals
[00:16.80]in the New England area
[00:19.04]are now treating many sea turtles.
[00:22.76]Some kinds of these animals
[00:24.96]are highly endangered.
[00:28.28]The turtles enter waters such as Cape Cod Bay
[00:32.48]when the weather is warm.
[00:35.64]But when temperatures drop,
[00:38.12]they cannot escape to head south,
[00:41.04]said Adam Kennedy.
[00:44.28]He is the director of rescue and rehabilitation
[00:48.24]at the New England Aquarium.
[00:52.52]The aquarium operates a turtle hospital
[00:55.60]in Quincy, Massachusetts.
[00:58.64]On December 3, Kennedy said
[01:01.36]more than 200 young turtles
[01:03.96]needed to be treated there.
[01:07.04]The animals had been stunned by the cold.
[01:11.92]The cold-stunned sea turtles
[01:13.84]wash up on the shores of Cape Cod
[01:16.64]every fall and winter.
[01:20.04]Kennedy said aquarium workers
[01:23.08]expect the number of turtles that they rescue
[01:27.00]to climb to at least 400.
[01:31.04]He said the average in 2010 was 40.
[01:36.44]Kennedy said, "Climate change
[01:39.08]certainly is allowing those numbers of turtles to get in
[01:43.40]where normally the numbers weren't very high years ago."
[01:50.16]He added that high winds
[01:52.64]and falling temperatures
[01:54.60]caused the recent strandings.
[01:58.52]In the early 2010s, the five-year average
[02:02.20]of cold-stunned sea turtles in Massachusetts
[02:05.72]was around 200.
[02:09.08]In recent years, that number
[02:11.24]has grown to more than 700.
[02:15.32]These numbers come
[02:16.64]from the U.S. National Oceanic
[02:19.64]and Atmospheric Administration.
[02:23.48]All the turtles
[02:24.80]at the New England Aquarium's hospital
[02:27.64]are young.
[02:29.76]Most are the highly endangered
[02:32.36]Kemp's ridley turtles.
[02:35.52]The migration of these turtles
[02:37.68]often causes them to become stranded
[02:40.64]in the New England area.
[02:43.36]But some are green turtles
[02:46.48]or loggerheads
[02:48.48]which are not as endangered.
[02:52.16]Kemp's ridley is the world's smallest sea turtle.
[02:56.92]The turtles mostly live in the Gulf of Mexico.
[03:01.48]But they travel into
[03:03.64]the northern Atlantic Ocean when young.
[03:07.44]A 2019 study
[03:09.40]in the scientific publication PLoS One
[03:12.88]said ocean warming increases the chance
[03:16.84]that turtles will become stunned
[03:19.48]by the cold in the waters
[03:21.68]of the Northwest Atlantic.
[03:25.00]The study said warmer water
[03:27.52]might push the turtles north
[03:29.64]in a way that makes stranding more likely.
[03:35.28]Melissa Joblon is director of animal health
[03:39.52]at the New England Aquarium.
[03:42.44]She said most turtles
[03:44.12]that arrive at the center are sick:
[03:47.00]"The majority of the turtles arrive
[03:49.96]with serious ailments
[03:52.16]such as pneumonia, dehydration,
[03:56.40]traumatic injuries, or sepsis."
[04:01.08]The turtle hospital treats the animals
[04:03.60]so they can be returned to the wild.
[04:07.12]Kennedy said they are put in local waters
[04:10.76]or even taken south to warmer waters.
[04:14.00]He said about 80 percent survive.
[04:18.24]"At the end of the day," Kennedy said,
[04:21.44]"getting these turtles back to the wild
[04:24.04]is what we are doing and what we want.
[04:27.72]We want them back in the ocean."
[04:30.52]I'm Anna Matteo. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM