Sea turtle released at Assateague

• National Aquarium staff released a juvenile Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle at Assateague.
• The turtle was rescued in November after being stunned by the cold.

Eight months after being found stunned by the cold in New Jersey, a rehabilitated Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle had no qualms about returning to its natural habitat as it was released at Assateague State Park Saturday.

The turtle swam quickly into the ocean after being carried to the shore by volunteers from the National Aquarium.

“This is a perfect sea turtle area,” said Jennifer Dittmar, manager of the National Aquarium’s animal rescue department. “We want to make sure the water temperature is good and it’s an area sea turtles are naturally found. Our hope is as the waters cool off he or she will head south.”

The turtle, named Iceman by staff at the National Aquarium, is a juvenile of undetermined gender. Because sea turtles don’t reach sexual maturity until their 20s, Dittmar said the gender of Iceman was unknown.

“For rehabilitation we don’t need to know,” she explained.

Dittmar said Iceman was found Nov. 13, 2013, by the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in New Jersey, stunned by the cold.

“Cold stunning is like hypothermia in sea turtles,” she said. “It starts as a low body temperature then their immune system crashes. It opens them up to a lot of secondary infections.”

For Iceman, those secondary issues included pneumonia and shell lesions. The turtle, who also had a deep laceration under a flipper, was sent to the National Aquarium for rehabilitation.

Veterinarians cleared the turtle for release this month after the injuries were healed and it had been off medication for two weeks. Iceman, one of 19 turtles helped by the National Aquarium this past winter, was also outfitted with tags and a microchip.

Dittmar said she was optimistic Iceman would do well in the waters off Assateague.

“There’s plenty of food around here,” she said. “Our hope is that these (rescued) turtles go off and be part of the population.”

To report a sea turtle stranding call 1-800-628-9944.

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