On Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard uploaded a video depicting several guardsmen in their effort of saving two turtles that had gotten entangled in ocean debris.
The Coast Guard Cutter Stratton crew from Alameda, California was notified of a suspicious parcel that was floating in the waters of a zone known for drug transits, so some members of the crew were sent to investigate. They, surprisingly, found two distressed turtles which had gotten themselves entangled in fishing line and some plastic material.
“There were no doubts about it, we knew what had to be done, so we immediately went into rescue mode,” commented Petty Officer 2nd Class Hylan Rousseau.
The team managed to free the first turtle rather easily, the second one, however, turned out to be more difficult to rescue. Its neck was entangled tightly in fishing line and so the guardsmen had to very carefully cut away the material, which had also been disrupting the breathing of the turtle.
“He had tried to free himself so hard that he had tightened the fishing line around his neck,” commented Chief Petty Officer Brian Milcetich.
The two turtles were not injured and they quickly swam away upon getting a taste of freedom.
The uplifting video, however, serves as an example of how the purchase and subsequent potential irresponsible disposal of goods made out of plastic can cause some serious negative effects on our oceans as well as on their inhabitants. According to a recent study, 270,000 tons of plastic debris is currently floating in the world’s oceans and, sadly, animals are the ones paying the price for it.