So long, St. Paul! Bye, Brooklyn! Sea turtles named for Baltimore neighborhoods released

Remember those cold-stunned sea turtles that were rescued and that you named in honor of your Baltimore neighborhood last year?

National Aquarium staffers on Thursday released nine of them from the 40th Street beach access in Ocean City, as hundreds of people looked on.

Members of the aquarium’s animal rescue and animal health teams carried the turtles they had spent months rehabilitating in Dole and Chiquita cardboard boxes as they crossed the sandy beach.

Barred from going into the water during the release, onlookers watched in amazement as the turtles, after being placed near the shore, flapped and glided their way into the sea, drawing applause and cheers from the crowd.

“Public releases allow Aquarium members and friends to see the results of the rehab work that we undertake each year,” Malia Hale, the director of animal rescue at the National Aquarium, said in a news release. “It’s our hope that seeing the turtles up close inspires people to care for our ocean and the animals we share it with.”

The turtles underwent months of medical treatment and daily observation after being rescued from the chilly waters off Cape Cod late last year, in what experts call a cold-stunning event. Cold-stunning is when water and air temperatures drop and, because of it, sea turtles experience weakened immune systems and poor floating regulation, among other health issues.

The National Aquarium began treating 40 of these cold-stunned turtles last fall, though one died shortly after arrival.

Staff enlisted the help of Baltimoreans for naming. The aquarium often engages the public with naming turtles it rescues and rehabs, but this time it went hyper-local by asking people to suggest a name inspired by a Baltimore neighborhood.

Officials said they received nearly 500 submissions.

On Thursday, turtles named Brooklyn, Cherry Hill, Fells Point, Glen, Hamilton, Lakeland, Little Italy, Mount Vernon and St. Paul were set free.

Another of them, Patterson Park, is being treated for an infection, officials said. Twenty-nine others were released from Oak Island, North Carolina, in April.

The aquarium has operated an Animal Stranding Response Center in Ocean City since 2023. It encourages people to report stranded marine animals to its hotline at 410-576-3880 while maintaining a safe distance.