Turtles Rescued From Cold Ocean

Seventy-six cold-stunned sea turtles floating helplessly were plucked Wednesday from the chilly waters off the Canaveral National Seashore, bringing to 232 the number of turtles picked up this week. Sixty-one of the turtles have died.

Twenty turtles were en route to Sea World of Florida in Orlando, where 75 were already recovering in tanks of warm water, park curator Frank Murru said. The others were to be trucked to Disney World in Orlando.

“Almost all of them are doing very well,” Murru said. “They just need to be warmed up. Quite a few of them are eating already, so that’s a good sign.”

Murru said that, after they have recovered, the turtles will be tagged and released.

“(The turtles) do float with their backs up, and they try to get a little air every now and again, but some of them get so weak they drown,” Canaveral refuge spokesman Bruce Blihovde said. “It’s all cold related.”

He said the water temperature dropped to about 46 degrees during the recent cold snap.

“When the water gets around 50 degrees . . . it starts getting stressful for turtles,” he said.