Nearly frozen sea turtle heading to rehab

New England Aquarium biologist Adam Kennedy lifts Herb, a rescued 75-pound loggerhead sea turtle, onto a treatment table at the New England Aquarium in Boston, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008. Herb is the largest hypothermic sea turtle rescued from Cape Cod this fall. He is being transported to the Riverhead Foundation on New York's Long Island, which rehabilitates and releases seals, whales, dolphins, and sea turtles. Herb's body temperature was in the 40s when he was found on the beach in Truro on Dec. 3. Veterinarians and rescue biologists slowly warmed him about five degrees each day, and his body temperature is now in the low 70's. Herb is likely between 4 and 7 years old. As an adult, he will weigh 200 to 250 pounds.

Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium said Herb's plight wasn't unusual. About 10 to 20 percent of the sea turtles washed ashore on Cape Cod beaches in the fall die because of the cold. But partly because of an early cold snap in November, for about a weeklong period the mortality rate was 60 percent, LaCasse said. VIA

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