Sea Turtle Rescue Group Seeks Bizav Lift

As much of the Northeast experienced the first major cold snap of the year this weekend, with below freezing temperatures, sea turtle rescue organization Turtles Fly Too has issued a call for business aviation operators who can volunteer flights from the Boston area, carrying cold-stunned sea turtles that were stranded on Cape Cod beaches to rehabilitation centers throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions, which are better equipped to handle an influx of the endangered creatures.

According to True-Lock Aviation Fasteners manager and founder Leslie Weinstein, who serves as president of the organization along with chair of the University of Florida’s Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, business aviation has saved more than 500 of the marine creatures, the largest of which can weigh several hundred pounds, over the past two years, from flights originating from Marshfield Municipal and Norwood Memorial Airports in Massachusetts. The largest of the turtles require larger aircraft to accommodate them and their holding pens.

“When people ask me, 'Is it worth it?' I tell them the Kemp's Ridley is the most endangered species,” Weinstein told AIN. “We do what we can to protect and save a species headed toward extinction.”