On Tuesday, December 9th I received a picture from Mallory M of the Inlet Point Plantation Stables of a deceased sea turtle on Waties Island.
This is a part of our stranding permit, that a sad part of this responsibility. Myself and Kim T headed out to the island and found the deceased turtle. It was a mature Kemp's Ridgley Sea Turtle that had no signs of an injury such as a boat strike or predation.
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We compared the shape of the shell, counted scutes both on the plastron and carapace, and checked for the shape of the sea turtle jaw and beak. My best guess is this poor animal suffered being cold stunned due to our unseasonal cold temperatures.
The frigid cold that settled in the state this past week can 'cold stun' marine animals like sea turtles, which occurs when their core temperatures drop below 55.
We followed the SCDNR deceased sea turtle protocol and recorded the required data points and than buried the poor thing. There were some evidence that birds had started feeding on the remains.
Many thanks to Mallory M for contacting me.
We were blessed that it was fairly warm and no wind on the beach. The clouds were awesome as we left the beach.
All sea turtle monitoring by Waties Island Sea Turtle Patrol is permitted and authorized by the SCDNR Marine Turtle Conservation Program under Marin Turtle Permit MT500
Pictures Mallory M, Leslie P, text Leslie P