QUINCY, Mass. (AP) — Global warming is filling New England’s plankton-rich waters with death traps for sea turtles and the number of stranded reptiles has multiplied over the past 20 years, transforming some veterinary hospitals in specialized services for endangered species. with illnesses ranging from pneumonia to sepsis.

More than 200 cold-stunned young turtles, unable to navigate cold winter waters, were treated Tuesday, in part because of warming of the Gulf of Maine made it a natural trap for sea turtles, said Adam Kennedy, director of rescue and rehabilitation at the New England Aquarium, which operates the turtle hospital in Quincy, Massachusetts.

The animals enter areas of the Gulf such as Cape Cod Bay when it is warm, and when temperatures inevitably drop, they cannot escape from the Hooked Peninsula to head south, Kennedy said.

“Climate change is certainly allowing turtle numbers to reach numbers that normally weren’t very high a few years ago,” Kennedy said.

Sea turtles stunned by coldsometimes close to death, wash up on Cape Cod every fall and winter. The aquarium expects the number of turtles it rescues to reach at least 400, Kennedy said, up from about 40 a year a decade ago, Kennedy said.

The five-year total average of cold-stunned sea turtles in Massachusetts was about 200 in the early 2010s, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and that number has risen to more than 700 in recent years. years.

All of the New England Aquarium’s hospital turtles are juveniles, mostly critically endangered Kemp’s tortoises, whose migratory patterns fuel their strandings here.

The Kemp’s turtle, the world’s smallest sea turtle, lives largely in the Gulf of Mexico and ventures into the Atlantic Ocean as a juvenile. Some recent scientific research, notably 2019 study in the journal PLoS One, argues that ocean warming increases the risk of cold events once the turtles reach the Northwest Atlantic. Warmer seas may have pushed the turtles north, making stranding more likely, the study said.

The turtle hospital allows animals to rehabilitate so they can be safely released back into the wild, sometimes locally and sometimes in warmer southern waters, Kennedy said.

Upon arrival, turtles are often seriously ill.

“The majority of turtles arrive with serious illnesses such as pneumonia, dehydration, traumatic injuries or sepsis,” said Melissa Joblon, director of animal health at the aquarium.

About 80% survive. High winds and falling temperatures played a role in the recent strandings, he said.

Some of the turtles arriving at the hospital are green turtles or loggerhead turtles, which are not as endangered as the Kemp’s ridley turtle, but still face many threats.

“Ultimately, getting these turtles back into the wild is what we do and what we want,” Kennedy said. “We want them back in the ocean.” ___

Whittle was reported in Portland, Maine.