Dr. Roger Kligler, a retired internist who lives in Falmouth, takes his golden retriever Bodie everywhere with him. Everywhere except on runs to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

Dr. Kligler is a turtle transporter and his fragile clients require a cool and quiet ride to the sanctuary.

When a cold-stunned or injured sea turtle is found on the Vineyard, a call is made to Island naturalist Gus Ben David who brings the turtle to his house and gradually begins the warming process. Mr. Ben David then contacts the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary to let them know he has a turtle. The scientists in Wellfleet then reach out to Dr. Kligler.

Dr. Kligler first volunteered at the wildlife sanctuary six years ago after he retired from his practice in Brockton. Two years ago, he received a call from the sanctuary saying a stranded leatherback turtle had been recovered on the Vineyard.

“They asked me if I wouldn’t mind taking him to the rehab facility,” Dr. Kligler said. “So I went down to the ferry, met Gus, put the turtle in my car and I transported it up to Quincy. That was the start of the Tesla turtle taxi service.”

In Woods Hole, Dr. Kligler waits for the luggage cart to come off the boat, which is where the turtles are kept during the passage across the Sound. He preps his Tesla Model S for the journey by lowering the internal temperature to the mid-50s and keeping the car as quiet as possible — no radio or any other noises allowed.

“I have to keep the car nice and cold, and nice and quiet for them,” he said. “Sometimes you have to use a little bit of heat, so I just turn it to low and keep it as cool as possible because they can’t get too hot.”

So far this year Dr. Kligler has been called to Woods Hole three times for transports of Kemp’s Ridley turtles washed ashore on the Vineyard. The first two were found on the Chappaquiddick side of Norton Point Beach, the third was found near West Chop but died before the trip to the rehab facility.

The second turtle was also failing as Dr. Kligler prepared it for the drive. He said he noticed that it looked particularly bothered by the cold.

“It was a cold day and when I picked it up I looked in on it and it was just flaccid laying in the box,” he recalled. “The neck was extended, the flippers were out and it wasn’t moving. I put it in the car, turned on my heat to 60 degrees, opened up the passageway into the trunk and within two miles the turtle was moving around. I could hear it scratching in the box which was great.”

Normally, volunteers at the Wellfleet sanctuary can visit the rescued turtles before they are flown south to be released back into the wild. But not this year, due to the pandemic. Dr. Kligler said he is looking forward to visiting his aquatic friends on the mend when things return to normal.

“It was wonderful. I love going in to see the turtles and the facility,” he said. “It was a nice little perk to be able to go in there and see the operation. They’ve always been really nice to me.”