Late each autumn, hundreds of sea turtles strand on Cape Cod due to hypothermia. For more than 25 years, the New England Aquarium and Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuaryhave worked together to rescue, rehabilitate, and release thousands of these sea turtles, mostly Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, the world’s most endangered sea turtle.

Over the last decade, the number of stranded turtles has steadily increased, but the late autumn of 2014 saw an unprecedented event as more than 1,200 cold-stunned sea turtles washed ashore. This massive wildlife emergency marshaled an inspiring response within and beyond Massachusetts that reached from individuals to the federal government, involving more than 10 states and 21 institutions. It even showcases “the largest airlift of an endangered species probably anywhere in the United States, quite possibly the world.”

Narrated by renowned scientist Dr. Sylvia Earle, Saving Sea Turtles: Preventing Extinction tells the story of the world’s rarest sea turtle, the Kemp’s ridley, and how humans pushed a healthy population to the precipice of extinction and are now slowly helping it to recover. From the beaches of Massachusetts to Mexico, Texas, and Georgia, this film highlights the collaborative work that is being done to save a species from going extinct.