Hypothermic Green Sea Turtle Beached in British Columbia Far From Home

Summary: A hypothermic green sea turtle beached in British Columbia far from home Jan. 23 now is a patient at Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.

hypothermic endangered green sea turtle recovering at Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre: Vancouver Aquarium @vanaqua via Facebook Jan. 25, 2016

On Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, a visitor at Canada’s Pacific Rim National Park spotted a hypothermic green sea turtle beached at Combers Beach on Vancouver Island’s southwestern coast, far north of its usual range in subtropical and tropical waters.

The visitor notified Parks Canada, the administrative agency for British Columbia’s three national park reserves. The hypothermic green sea turtle, known scientifically as Chelonia mydas, was making occasional, weak movements of its flippers and its head.

Jennifer Yakimishyn, a resource management officer with Parks Canada, applauds the visitor for keeping a safe distance and reporting the sighting.

“Everybody wants to go see it, but it’s always important to keep your distance, because these are stressed animals that may also carry disease,” she explains.

Parks Canada officers transported the hypothermic green sea turtle from the remote beach on Vancouver Island’s southwest coast to Nanaimo on the southeast coast. A team from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre then conveyed the green sea turtle, classified as an endangered species, across the Salish Sea to the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre.

Upon admission at the Centre, the hypothermic green sea turtle registered a body temperature of 11.2 degrees Celsius (52.16 degrees Fahrenheit), almost nine degrees below the endangered species’ normal temperature range of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius (68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit). The hypothermic green sea turtle was treated for wounds on its hard upper shell, known as a carapace. The stranded turtle, whose sex has not been determined, also was given antibiotics and fluids.

Every day the thermostat is raised by one or two degrees as a slow warming procedure to restore normal body temperature. As of Tuesday, Jan. 26, the hypothermic green sea turtle weighed 35 kilograms (77 pounds) and registered a body temperature over 17.1 degrees Celsius (62.78 degrees Fahrenheit).

As reptiles, green sea turtles are sensitive to external temperatures. “Reptiles are cold-blooded and they completely depend on their external environment to control their body temperature,” explains Dr. Martin Haulena, head veterinarian at the Vancouver Aquarium.

Following a warm current northward is the likely prompt for the hypothermic green sea turtle’s odyssey from warm subtropical or tropical waters to British Columbia’s cool temperate water.

“When they get into water that’s too cold they get hypothermia, also known as cold-stunning. Everything slows down: heart, respiration rates, they can’t swim, they can’t forage -- they get weaker and weaker,” notes Dr. Haulena.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the adult green sea turtle’s exclusively herbivorous diet, favoring algae and seagrasses, distinguishes them from other sea turtles. Their exclusive diet of plants is credited with giving their fat a greenish color. Their common name recognizes this unusual feature.

The normal range for green sea turtles stretches in a latitudinal band of subtropical and tropical waters between 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south. The endangered species coastally inhabits more than 140 countries and nests in over 80 countries. Canada’s Pacific Rim National Park, the site of the hypothermic green sea turtle’s beaching, lies in the temperate zone at 48 degrees north latitude, far north of the species’ normal range.

On Thursday, Jan. 21, officials with Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Parks Canada rescued an adult male, emaciated Guadalupe fur seal, also at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The usual home range for Guadalupe fur seals is in the temperate waters around Baja California’s Isla Guadalupe (Guadalupe Island).

While the fur seal remains in critical condition, Dr. Haulena offers a guarded prognosis of recovery for the hypothermic green sea turtle. The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre would partner with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in their patient’s release into the wild.

Dr. Haulena suggests that more strandings may occur this winter as El Niño-warmed waters lure more species on out-of-range odysseys. He explains that unusual migrations are “something we see more often during years with above-average sea temperatures, such as during an El Niño period.”

Rescued green sea turtle is being warmed by a few degrees each day for safe reach of normal body temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit); handout photo provided by Vancouver Aquarium: The Vancouver Sun @VancouverSun via Twitter Jan. 25, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

recovering hypothermic endangered green sea turtle: Vancouver Aquarium @vanaqua via Facebook Jan. 25, 2016, @ https://www.facebook.com/vanaqua/photos/a.488362465799.267595.7881420799/10153228494995800/

Rescued green sea turtle is being warmed by a few degrees each day for safe reach of normal body temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit); handout photo provided by Vancouver Aquarium: The Vancouver Sun @VancouverSun via Twitter Jan. 25, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/VancouverSun/status/691747281608019969

For further information:

Brown, Scott. "Vancouver Aquarium treating tropical sea turtle rescued from B.C. beach." Vancouver Sun > News > Staff Blogs. Jan. 25, 2016.
Available @ https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/vancouver-aquarium-treating-tropical-sea-turtle-rescued-from-b-c-beach

"Green turtle (Chelonia mydas)." NOAA Fisheries > Protected Resources > Species > Sea Turtles. Updated April 6, 2016.
Available @ http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/green.html

Johnson, Lisa. "Endangered green sea turtle with hypothermia rescued from B.C. Beach." CBC News Canada > British Columbia > Photo Galleries. Jan. 26, 2016.
Available @ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/endangered-sea-turtle-pacific-rim-national-park-1.3419061

Karstens-Smith, Emma. "Threatened seal, endangered sea turtle rescued off Vancouver Island." The Globe and Mail > News > British Columbia. Jan. 25, 2016.
Available @ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/threatened-seal-endangered-sea-turtle-rescued-off-vancouver-island/article28391083/

"Rare Guadalupe Fur Seal Saved in Joint Rescue." AquaBlog. Jan. 22, 2016.
Available @ http://www.aquablog.ca/2016/01/rare-guadalupe-fur-seal-saved-in-joint-rescue/

"Rescued Sea Turtle Found Far From Home." AquaBlog. Jan. 26, 2016.
Available @ http://www.aquablog.ca/2016/01/rescued-sea-turtle-found-far-from-home/

Vancouver Aquarium @vanaqua. "For the second time in a week, a collaborative effort has resulted in the rescue of a southern species from Combers Beach in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve." Facebook. Jan. 25, 2016.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/vanaqua/photos/a.488362465799.267595.7881420799/10153228494995800/

The Vancouver Sun‏ @VancouverSun."Vancouver Aquarium treating tropical sea turtle rescued from B.C. beach." Twitter. Jan. 25, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/VancouverSun/status/691747281608019969