BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. -- Nine endangered sea turtles are headed to rehab.
They were seriously hurt on Cape Cod and now need some medical monitoring.
"If humans hadn't intervened, their prognosis would have been zero," said Kathy Zagzebski, of National Marine Life Center. "They would not have survived."
The sea turtles were rescued after becoming stranded on Cape Cod in November.
"They get frostbite of the skin," Zagzebski said. "They get pneumonia. They often get a lot of secondary lesions and sores and injuries. At this point, their whole body shuts down, and they're essentially in a coma caused by being too cold."
On Tuesday, the sea turtles were transported from New England Aquarium to the National Marine Life Center, where they will be nursed back to health.
"We will do examinations like you're observing today every week to make sure that they're healing and that any injuries they're showing are healing," Zagzebski said. "There are fewer than a thousand of the female turtles left worldwide, making every turtle rescue even more important. They'll be able to be released back into the wild, and every individual release has the opportunity to help the population recover."
If the turtles are healthy enough, they will be released on Cape Cod this summer.
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