Saved from death by plastic
British diver captures this heartbreaking image of turtle choking on bag in Red Sea – then rescues her
‘They will soon die out’
GLIDING through the sea with a strip of plastic trailing from her mouth, this turtle is yet another heartbreaking reminder of the impact waste is having on the planet.
The creature was unable to eat after the plastic bag became lodged eight inches down her throat.
Thankfully, diver Saeed rashid, who took the pictures, noticed she was in distress and managed to remove the plastic.
The university lecturer warned about the increase in plastic in our seas and oceans – and said future genseeing erations will miss out on some of the wonders of the natural world if urgent action is not taken to tackle the problem of pollution. The Daily Mail has been at the forefront of campaigns to stop the tide of plastic poison damaging the planet.
Mr rashid, 46, was on holiday, diving in the red Sea, when he spotted two Hawksbill turtles feeding on jellyfish.
After taking a few pictures, he realised the female was in distress and unable to eat because of the bag blocking her airways.
Mr rashid, who works at Bournemouth University, said: ‘I’ve been diving for 20 years and been lucky to travel all over the world and I’m now a massive increase in the amount of plastic floating about.
‘I’ve always collected what I can but I know it’s such a small drop in the very real ocean. I had to try to help so I put away my camera and tried to pull the bag from its mouth.
‘The plastic bag was not only in her mouth but also down her throat. I had to hold on to its shell and try to wrestle [the bag] from her.
‘The turtle was surprisingly calm…once she opened her mouth the bag came out. There was about eight inches down her throat and she wouldn’t have been able to eat.’
He added: ‘Almost as soon as I pulled the bag out she tried to eat yet another bag that floated by.
‘I quickly pulled that bag away and she went on to eat a few of the many jellyfish around us – she was clearly very hungry.’
Mr rashid said both turtles then followed him up to the surface of the water.
‘Strangely we encountered more turtles on this trip than I had ever seen before but they will soon die out unless we do something now,’ he added.
‘I want our children to see with their own eyes what I’ve come to love in the oceans. I often talk about plastic waste in the ocean but have never seen it’s effect so close up.’
His encounter comes after viewers of the BBC’s Blue Planet II were left in tears over scenes featuring a pilot
whale carrying her dead newfor born around days, reluctant to let it go. The programme suggested the whale calf might have been poisoned by its mother’s polluted milk. It prompted an outpouring of anger from viewers, charities and campaign groups, calling for action on the scourge of plastic waste that ends up in our seas and oceans.
Eight million tons of plastic is dumped into the sea every year, while one million sea birds a year die from eating plastic waste.
Studies have also suggested that more than half of marine turtles have ingested plastic. Other distressing images captured in recent months include a seahorse clutching a cotton bud in Indonesia and a turtle left deformed after becoming trapped in a plastic six-pack drink holder. The biggest problem is single-use plastic items such as plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, plastic bottles and most food packaging – items which are designed to be used once then thrown away.
Some are very difficult to recycle and can then find their way into the sea after being dropped in litter, or blown off a beach or landfill site.