Super rare sea turtle returns to NYC waters after injury in shell yeah moment

It was a shell yeah moment.A very nervous endangered turtle made its grand return to the Coney Island sea as local kids cheered it on — months after the reptile nearly froze to death.Pancake — a Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle — slowly crawled toward the shoreline as dozens of children cheered on the sheller sprinter, which stopped several times along the short journey to take in its new future of freedom.“Go Pancake! You can do it!” the kids shouted on the beach as they raised handmade signs for the animal.The tear-jerking moment marked the first time Pancake had touched open water since Nov.22 — when the cold-stunned chelonian washed up on the freezing shores of Cape Cod.Pancake was suffering from hypothermia, which essentially paralyzed the reptile and would have been a death sentence if it hadn’t been rushed to the New England Aquarium for triage.Officials discovered that the 11-pound turtle was between 2- and 5-years-old — making the creature just a baby considering its 50-year life span.

Its sex is unknown because determining gender would require a blood test that was not necessary for its recovery.Pancake was stable after 10 days enough to join 24 other Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles for a journey to the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS) in Westhampton Beach, with support from the Wildlife Conservation Society/New York Aquarium and other nonprofits.The turtles — which were all given breakfast menu-inspired names like Fritter and Mimosa — spent weeks being medically treated for hypothermia, earning back their strength and proving they could hunt down shrimp and clams on their own.Their survival is essential to their species, which was listed as endangered in 1970 after years of habitat loss, egg over-harvesting and drownings brought on by accidental catches.There are now estimated to be at most 9,000 nesting adult females across the globe, though their numbers fluctuate drastically every year, according to the National Oceanic and At...