Source - A sea turtle that was rescued from frigid Northwest waters and treated at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport is catching a ride back to California on a Coast Guard training flight.
The aquarium says the endangered olive ridley turtle named Solstice is being airlifted Tuesday on a Coast Guard C-130 and will complete her rehabilitation at SeaWorld in San Diego.
Solstice was dehydrated with a body temperature 15 degrees below normal when she was found on the Long Beach Peninsula in southwest Washington.
With the approval of the Fish and Wildlife, Solstice will be released this summer in warmer waters where turtles typically range.
At least five other turtle caught in cold currents this winter were stranded and died on the coast of Washington and Oregon.
Holy cow talk about a close one. We almost lost Solstice for a second there....As a quick aside, "Solstice" is a horrible name for anything other than a stripper....But fortunately for us, Solstice is going to be okay, our girl is on her way home to finish up her rehab in SeaWorld! Wait, hasn't SeaWorld recently become pretty notorious for mistreating animals? Maybe let's just rethink the whole SeaWorld arrangement for a second. Is that really the best environment for a wounded animal? They psychologically shattered a 100% healthy(ish) killer whale, can you imagine what they could do to a simple minded turtle like Solstice? They would ruin her.
Should we maybe be looking into monitoring this whole freezing turtles situation. "At least five." Aren't turtles like the Snow Leopards of the ocean? 5 is A LOT of fucking sea turtles. That would be like if 2,000 people just froze to death on the East Coast.