To encouraging chants by young campers and dignitaries alike, an 11-pound endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle named Pancake made its way down a beach beside New York’s Coney Island boardwalk on Thursday, July 23 and into the Atlantic Ocean.
Pancake was picked up off Duck Harbor Beach, in Wellfleet, on November 22, by Mass Audubon volunteers, and transported to the New England Aquarium Sea Turtle Hospital for emergency triage and medical treatment.
On December 3, Pancake was transferred to the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society's Sea Turtle Care Facility in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., where the turtle underwent months of specialized rehabilitation. Scientists say Pancake made a full recovery, demonstrating strong swimming behavior while actively pursuing food and maintaining a healthy diet of shrimp and clams, before being cleared for release.
Dr. Maia Austin is a postdoctoral researcher for the Wildlife Conservation Society. She says Pancake was released into a part of the Atlantic Ocean that is one of the most biologically productive marine ecosystems on the East Coast.
"So, it’s the New York Bight, which is term that we use for the area that's between Cape May, New Jersey and Montauk, Long Island," she said. "It's actually a really productive and dynamic ecosystem, which I think a lot of people don't realize because, you know, you think New York, you think urban, you don't necessarily think, of all of this amazing wildlife we have."
Austin noted Kemp's ridley sea turtles, while still endangered, have had an impressive population rebound in the past half-century.
"I think that they are kind of a growing conservation success story in that they have been really well protected and they've had this really big rebound," she said. "But, you know, they still have some issues with entanglement, ship strikes, things like that, that are things that we think about a lot in the New York Bight because ... it is a more urbanized area. So we have a lot of humans and wildlife interacting. So we think about that a lot for turtles and also for the whales and dolphins in the area."
Pancake is believed to be between two and five years old, and was one of 25 Kemp’s ridleys sent to AMSEAS for rehabilitation this cold-stunning season. The AMSEAS Turtle Care Facility has treated 125 sea turtles since its opening in 2020.
Pancake's gender is unkown, since that would require a blood test that was not medically necessary.
"Everyone is very excited of getting to look at Pancake," said Austin. "It's just so exciting to have, you know, an up close look at these cool, wild animals."
Representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State Department of State, Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, Wildlife Conservation Society, and other environmental organizations and elected officials joined New York Aquarium campers and youth leaders on the beach to watch as the turtle made its way back into the ocean.
In speeches on the beach, dignitaries touted the New York State Environmental Protection Fund, which supports ocean conservation, wildlife rehabilitation, marine science, and coastal restoration efforts through its Ocean and Great Lakes Program. It is the state's primary source of funding for projects that protect and restore New York's marine ecosystems.
