Sea Turtle Found In Pacific Grove Rescued
A chilly sea turtle beached itself in Pacific Grove on Wednesday and is now sitting in a hot tub at the Monterey Bay Aquarium until it can return to the ocean.
The olive ridley sea turtle was likely lured north this fall by warmer-than-usual surface waters, aquarium spokesman Ken Peterson said.
Sea turtles occasionally swim into Monterey Bay, most notably leatherback sea turtles that can withstand colder ocean temperatures.
Other species of sea turtles also visit Monterey Bay when the water's surface temperature warms up.
This fall has been unusually warm, with surface temperatures approaching 60 degrees, Peterson said. Sometimes sea turtles are cold-stunned when warmer currents disappear, stranding the turtles in chilly Monterey waters.
This is likely what happened to the 72-pound olive ridley sea turtle, which beached itself at Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University in Pacific Grove, Peterson said.
So the sea turtle was rescued and placed behind the scenes at the aquarium in a 78-degree hot tub.
Aquarium staff, led by veterinarian Mike Murray, will care for the sea turtle until its condition stabilizes and the ocean animal can be returned to the wild.
This marks the third time in the aquarium's 27-year history that it has cared for a stranded olive ridley sea turtle. The Pacific Ocean's population of olive ridley sea turtles are endangered.