The beaches of Cape Cod have been overcome with 45 sea turtles in the past couple of days due to young turtles not knowing how to make the proper migration, according to The Boston Globe.
Rescuers have been busy caring for the sea turtles at the New England Aquarium's "turtle hospital," where they are placed in warming tanks to help get them back to full health, CapeCod.com reported.
Twenty-eight sea turtles were rescued on Sunday alone, making it the most the sea turtles the hospital has taken in since 1999, according to the Globe. The young turtles don't yet know how to properly make their migration, and as a result they were stranded.
"They get on the north side of the Cape. Navigation is tricky," New England Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse said, according to a CBS local affiliate.
The turtles swim into Cape Cod to eat during the summer, but then become confused when it is time to migrate south, the Globe reported.
Then, after spending the fall months in the bay, the turtles develop hypothermia and wash ashore, according to the Globe.
"They've got land on three sides and they have to swim north 25 miles to then begin swimming south. And because they're young they don't figure that out often," LaCasse added, CBS reported.
Six of the turtles rescued died after being taken to the hospital, according to the Globe. The rest of the 50 turtles at the center will be treated for three to 10 months.
The turtles with hypothermia are being warmed before being released back in the waters of Florida or Georgia in two or three months, the Globe reported.
According to LaCasse, every November, about 25-150 young sea turtles are rescued from the Cape Cod beaches and nursed back to health before being released, according to CBS.
LaCasse also said the turtles would not have survive if they did not become stranded and get rescued, the Globe reported.
