When turtles fly: Cold-stunned animals nursed in Mississippi

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Aquarium is treating 40 endangered sea turtles that were stranded in Massachusetts when the water cooled down so quickly they couldn’t swim away. Vice president of veterinary services Alexa Delaune said Monday (Dec. 6, 2021) that the Kemp’s ridley turtles all are pretty small and most have symptoms of pneumonia. Mississippi Aquarium spokesman Jeff Clark says the New England Aquarium ran out of room and asked if Mississippi could take them. Kemp’s ridley turtles are the smallest and most endangered of the species found in U.S. waters. They were flown to Gulfport on Friday (Dec. 3, 2021) by a volunteer pilot group called Turtles Fly Too.