Hundreds of baby turtles saved from Jersey Shore storm drains
By FOX 5 NY Staff
Published
Baby turtles rescued
Volunteers rescued 826 diamondback terrapin hatchlings from storm drains and turned them over to Stockton University. (By The Associated Press/video from Stockton University)
GALLOWAY, N.J. - Hundreds of diamondback terrapin hatchlings that spent the winter hiding from the cold in subterranean nests only to end up stuck in storm drains along the Jersey Shore are now in the good hands of wildlife experts.
Volunteers rescued 826 tiny turtles from drains in Margate, Ventnor, and Ocean City and turned them over to Stockton University s Head Start program, according to a
More than 800 baby turtles rescued from storm drains in 3 N.J. beach towns
Updated May 06, 2021;
Hundreds of baby turtles have been rescued from storm drains at the Jersey Shore, but they weren’t mutant ninjas.
Over the past few weeks, volunteers scooped 826 diamondback terrapin hatchlings from storm drains in Margate, Ventnor and Ocean City, where they had been hiding from cold temperatures over the winter while surviving off yolk sacs, Stockton University wrote in a Facebook post.
Two volunteers Marlene Galdi and Joanne Freas often help turtles crossing busy roads at the Jersey, but more recently realized the babies are small enough to slip through the cracks of storm drains. The pair spotted the quarter-sized creatures swimming in the drains in Ocean City one day and used a custom scooper from a telescopic aquarium net attached to a bamboo pole to rescue them.
800 baby turtles rescued from storm drains in 3 Jersey Shore towns
Posted May 06, 2021
Hundreds of baby turtles have been rescued from storm drains at the Jersey Shore, but they weren’t mutant ninjas.
Over the past few weeks, volunteers scooped 826 diamondback terrapin hatchlings from storm drains in Margate, Ventnor and Ocean City, where they had been hiding from cold temperatures over the winter while surviving off yolk sacs, Stockton University wrote in a Facebook post.
Two volunteers Marlene Galdi and Joanne Freas often help turtles crossing busy roads at the Jersey, but more recently realized the babies are small enough to slip through the cracks of storm drains. The pair spotted the quarter-sized creatures swimming in the drains in Ocean City one day and used a custom scooper from a telescopic aquarium net attached to a bamboo pole to rescue them.
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Thanks to quick thinking volunteers Marlene Galdo, Joanne Freas, and Evelyn Kidd, 826 baby diamondback terrapin turtles will live to see another day after being rescued from storm drains in Ocean City, Margate, and Ventnor according to NJ.com and the Stockton University Facebook page
The baby turtles used the storm drains for shelter over the long and cold winter season. They survive by eating yolk sacks. After being rescued by volunteers, the diamondback baby terrapins were turned over to Stockton University s Head Start Program for proper care. The turtles will be released back into the wild in about a year.