Cape Breton woman finds endangered leatherback sea turtle washed up on beach

Mary Janet MacDonald has gone for walks on Port Hood Beach, N.S., most of her life, but in all those years, she had never seen anything like the discovery she made on Saturday: a leatherback sea turtle.

"What is so amazing to me is the size of these animals. They're huge," MacDonald said.

Routinely weighing between 800 and 1,000 pounds, leatherbacks are the largest species of sea turtle in the world.

MacDonald, who is known across the Maritimes for her best-selling cookbooks like “Tunes and Wooden Spoons,” was on the beach taking photos for her next book when she discovered the turtle, which wasn't moving.

She contacted the authorities, who came and picked the animal up. MacDonald also gave it a name, in honour of where the turtle was found.

"He was named 'Hoodie.' I thought that was so sweet, and I was so hopeful that he would survive," MacDonald said.

Unfortunately, it was determined on Tuesday the turtle had passed away.

"There is a phenomenon called 'cold stunning' that happens to sea turtles this time of year," explained Kathleen Martin, the Halifax-based executive director of the Canadian Sea Turtle Network.

A necropsy will be conducted to find out what happened, but one theory is that it may have gotten stuck in cold waters while trying to swim south.

"What we have seen repeatedly with sea turtles that we have satellite-tracked and followed is that they try to get through the Causeway at St. George's Bay, and they can't," Martin said.

Martin noted leatherbacks are an endangered species, so the hope is anyone who makes a similar discovery will call it in.

"That people will be more aware and be watchful for this, so that an animal like this could be saved," MacDonald said.

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