Turtle Hatchling Saved On Island Headed To N.C.

ASSATEAGUE -- The loggerhead turtle hatchling rescued from the beach at Assateague in advance of Hurricane Sandy in late October continues to progress and has been moved to rehabilitation facility in North Carolina in what will likely be a final stop before a return to the wild in the near future.

On October 26, just about two days before Hurricane Sandy arrived in the mid-Atlantic area, biological technicians and other staff from the Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) of the National Aquarium in Baltimore excavated a loggerhead sea turtle nest from the north end of Assateague Island National Seashore in advance of the storm. The loggerhead nest, one of the first viable ever discovered on Assateague, contained three live hatchlings and 160 potentially viable eggs, which had been incubating in the warm sand since the end of July.

The excavation of the nest was planned because the window for viability of the hatchlings and eggs was ready to expire, but the pending arrival of Sandy expedited the project. With Sandy bearing down on the mid-Atlantic region, MARP staffers moved quickly to excavate the entire loggerhead nest and were surprised to find three hatchlings had survived.
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