When late February’s sudden cold snap stunned hundreds of sea turtles in our area, many people in our community came to the rescue. They joined forces and worked hard to report, rescue, and transport the cold-stunned sea turtles to rehabilitation centers, saving as many turtles’ lives as possible. Many heroic and heartwarming stories have come from those efforts.
The longer that sea turtles are exposed to extremely cold temperatures, the lower their survival rate. So, unfortunately, the Lexington’s turtles – rescued ten days after the cold snap’s February 14 onset – didn’t have great odds of survival. They were already highly compromised and had a considerably lower survival rate than turtles rescued a week earlier. Yet, a large green sea turtle the Lexington rescued that morning beat the odds, surprising us with his will to survive. We gave the Lexington crew progress reports, updating them about how this sea turtle was progressing in the recovery process. In return, they sent us encouraging messages, saying they were rooting for that sole survivor and had even named it “Blue Ghost,” sharing the nickname of the USS Lexington itself. After weeks of treatment and encouragement, Blue Ghost passed its swim test and was cleared for release.
