GULFPORT, Miss. - Nearly six dozen of the world’s most endangered sea turtles, the Kemp’s ridleys, are undergoing medical rehabilitation in Gulfport at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) and the Mississippi Aquarium.
Each team picked up its annual shipment of ill sea turtles at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in mid-December, arriving from the New England Aquarium in Boston. \
Following yet another extreme cold front, IMMS took in 30 Kemp’s ridleys that need critical attention.
The sea turtles with rest and recover under supervision for at least two months before being released into the Gulf of Mexico and/or back bays of Mississippi.
Both the aquarium and IMMS work to track their patients’ progress once they’re back in the wild.
After release, satellite transmitters attached to the animals allow researchers to keep up with them, as well as everyone at home. The turtle transmits a signal each time it surfaces to breathe. (WLOX 01/04/24) Coast teams nurse sick, endangered sea turtles back to wild to save species (wlox.com)
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