Name a Turtle, Save a Turtle: Help Endangered Sea Turtles Complete Their Journey Home

They survived the cold. They made the flight. Now help them finish the journey with a new name.

Thanks to donors like you, Operation Turtle Takeoff rescued hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles from New England beaches and flew them to rehabilitation centers and aquariums. These turtles — endangered Kemp's ridleys and others — were slowly warmed, carefully monitored, and nursed back to health by marine biologists. Now, the next chapter begins.

Two of those turtles, currently going by the very official temporary names Gateway Arch and Indiana Dunes, are deep in the rehab process. Both are recovering from pneumonia and frostbite as well as missing flipper tips. Gateway Arch lost an entire flipper. Both are Kemp's ridleys, the most endangered of all seven species of sea turtle.

They're building strength and working their way toward the moment they can finally be released back into the wild. But getting a cold-stunned sea turtle from "rescued" to "released" takes months of specialized veterinary care, feeding, and round-the-clock monitoring.

Help Name These Turtles When You Donate

Now here's the fun part: we think Gateway Arch and Indiana Dunes have earned real names. When you donate, you're voting on what they'll be called — forever. Select your favorite of these three options above:

🐢 Option 1: Lord Flippertons & Duchess Paddlesworth

🐢 Option 2: Leonardo & Michelangelo

🐢 Option 3: Turt Reynolds & Shelly

$1 donated = 1 vote: Every dollar of your donation counts as a vote for these two turtles' new names. Love one option? Give big to make it the winner!

Your donation funds the full rehabilitation and release of these two endangered turtles.

How Rehabilitation Works: After their flights, receiving organizations assess each turtle's health and design an individualized treatment plan. Turtles are reintroduced to feeding, monitored for recovery, and cleared for release only after passing full diagnostic tests. Every step takes time, expertise, and resources — all made possible by supporters like you.

Sea turtles have navigated our oceans for over 100 million years. Gateway Arch and Indiana Dunes are almost ready to get back out there.

Will you help them cross the finish line and give them names worthy of the ocean?