Tiny, endangered sea turtle found on Quebec’s Magdalen Islands for the first time

By Joe Bongiorno, The Canadian Press on December 14, 2024.

MONTREAL – One of the world’s smallest and most endangered turtle species was found on the shores Quebec’s Magdalen Islands last week ““ a first in the province.

Veterinarian Jean-Simon Richard says he was contacted last Saturday after someone found a beached Kemp’s ridley sea turtle on the archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Richard says attempts were made to revive the turtle but proved unsuccessful and the animal will be sent for a necropsy to confirm a cause of death.

He says he believes the turtle swam farther north than usual because it was attracted to the warming waters and likely died from hypothermia.

Kathleen Martin, executive director of the Canadian Sea Turtle Network, says the discovery is significant because Kemp’s ridley turtles migrate from the Gulf of Mexico and that sea turtle species are in peril.

Martin says Canada will have to play an increasingly important role in the protection of endangered sea turtles as climate change creates warmer waters that bring unexpected marine animals to the country’s shores.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2024.