JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A group of loggerhead sea turtles that were rescued off the coast of New England will now be able to once again call the Atlantic Ocean home.
Team members from the Georgia Aquarium were at Little Talbot Island State Park in Jacksonville Tuesday afternoon to release the turtles. Eight animals were rescued after being cold stunned in late January, and six of them were returned to the ocean Tuesday.
"Each year, zoos and aquariums from across the country work alongside our partners at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help give cold stunned turtles temporary homes to warm up and gain strength," the Georgia Aquarium wrote in a news release announcing the turtles' return to the ocean. "Operations like this help save thousands of turtles."
The six released turtles came from the New England coast by way of the Georgia Aquarium. The cold-stunned turtles were rescued in New England.
"Being cold stunned is kinda like being hypothermic and frostbitten in humans," Georgia Aquarium aquarist, Normandy Crohn, said.
"A lot of physiological things happen but, mostly lethargy they just don't have the energy to forage for food anymore to swim and eventually they wash up on shore with very little energy not doing to great," she added.
The six turtles will start their new lives on the First Coast, a big day for the future of their species.
"Loggerheads are an endangered species of sea turtle in fact most sea turtles are endangered species they are wild animals we have no right to keep them unnecessarily in captivity," Crohn said.
So what's next for the loggerheads? Catch up with friends? Lay some eggs? Crohn says she doesn't know, but whatever it is, she hopes it stays on the first coast.
"Chances are these guys will very quickly establish where they are and go exactly where they want to go we just hope it's not too far north again and they don't get cold stunned again," Crohn added.