Footage shows friends freeing the turtle which had become entangled in a life-threatening mass of plastic garbage.
Fishing friends’ intervention saves turtle from plastic death trap
Shaky mobile video footage, uploaded to Facebook on 11 December by Ricardo Hornos, shows an encounter between what appears to be a group of friends on a fishing trip, and a turtle that had become entangled in a mass of discarded plastic waste from human activity.
Human activity was the preventable cause of this near tragedy
In the video, fishing net appears tightly caught around the creature’s throat and front flipper, potentially restricting breathing, blood flow and freedom of movement; while its ability to feed was further hampered by an attached mass of styrofoam which would have prevented the animal from being able to dive.
The Brazilian friends are seen gently cutting away the plastic death trap and the turtle is free to swim away, apparently none the worse for the ordeal. However, without their timely intervention the mass of plastic trash would likely have brought about a premature death for this beautiful animal.
Not all heroes wear capes. Well done and thank you to these Brazilian boating buddies!
Source: Facebook/RicardoHornos
See below: Talking of turtles…
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