In an unfortunate turn of events this weekend, Alabama-based animal conservationists report finding a deceased Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle on the shore of a local beach. But the most chilling part of the story has to do with how the animal died.
Photos posted online by animal conservation group Fort Morgan Share the Beach illustrate a gruesome scene in which the sea turtle appears to have died from asphyxiation related to sea pollution:
Image Credit: Fort Morgan Share the Beach/Facebook
As it would seem, one or more of the heavy strings that held a common beach chair’s structural integrity together managed to wrap around the animal’s neck, restricting its breathing abilities in the process.
“This Kemps Ridley, which is on the endangered list, was found this morning with this chair around its neck,” the group said in a statement on Facebook.
“How many hundreds of times do we have to ask people to pick their stuff up? It should just be common decency.”
Given just how rustic the beach chair looks from the photographs, with its barnacle-covered surface and tattered personality, one can only presume that rising tides washed the chair out into the ocean where the sea turtle later became involved in it.
The incident is one of many in which lifeless marine animals have washed up in relation to human-induced sea pollution. Just recently, an autopsy of a beached whale revealed stomach contents comprised of plastic bags and other indigestible substances, and there’ve been other occurrences as well.
Worthy of note, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognizes the Kemps’ Ridley Sea Turtle as a critically-endangered species, and it’s one of the world’s scarcest sea turtles alive today.
That said, it’s a rather unfortunate end to a beautiful animal that could have otherwise been prevented, and it serves as a reminder of why it’s so important to clean up after ourselves after visiting the beach for a day of Summer fun.
Source: The Huffington Post