Tortured Turtles
How our recklessness put a baby turtle through a living hell
Tortured Turtles
K.L. Orion
“Don’t use plastic straws! Turtles will choke on them!”
Yeah, say that like I haven’t heard it a million times.
That statement is so overused and so cliché by now that the idea of an animal getting its throat sliced up by plastic shards barely phases me anymore. I consider myself something of an environmentalist and hate seeing hurt animals, so the fact that the idea of pollution-eating sea turtles has lost its effect on me makes a statement.
The “sea turtles vs plastic straws” thing has been treated more like a joke rather than a serious issue in recent years. That’s concerning. The oceans, not just turtles, are suffering from all sorts of pollution. The plastic-eating sea turtle is the posterboy of the ocean environmental movement, and that posterboy has lost all meaning in the modern day. It’s a joke now. People use it to poke fun at environmentalists. The idea of such a little object like a plastic straw defeating a majestic sea animal is almost hilarious by itself.
After a while, I even began chuckling at the thought of a turtle gagging on a simplistic plastic straw. It was a stupid idea. Besides, for a small town Iowan, the notion of a far off sea creature I never see suffering from a problem I also never see didn’t have weight on me. I didn’t see the effects, so I had little understanding of the issue. I didn’t have a face to associate the issue with.
That was until I did.
This is SweetPea. She’s a juvenile green sea turtle being kept at the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center in Navarre Beach, Florida. My family recently went on vacation to Navarre Beach, and this was one of my favorite (and most eye-opening) stops. After going with my family, I went back once alone and then forced my family to come with me again on a third time. The center was very informational and engaging. But by far the star of the place was SweetPea herself. It’s mesmerizing watching her swim circles in her pool habitat. Sometimes, she’ll even slap at the wall with her flipper. There’s something relaxing listening to her take a loud, blowy breath. But as entertaining as she was, there was something painful about watching her.
As you can likely tell from the picture, SweetPea is no ordinary turtle. She was found at an even younger age washed up on a beach entangled in litter. She lost her left front flipper to fishing line that got wrapped around it tight; so tight that it cut down to the bone. The back left portion of her shell was struck by a boat rudder, cutting the shell and damaging her back left flipper. Her insides were cut up after ingesting fishing line and fishing hooks. It is so bad that she can only have soft food as a result of this injury. The poor animal has gone through hell. A human-made hell.
There is a silver lining to this story. While she was unintentionally hurt by humans, she was intentionally saved by humans. That’s why she’s still alive. That’s why she’s at the conservation center in the first place. She was rescued and given veterinary treatment. But even then, she was deemed unreleasable due to obvious reasons. And she wasn’t alone.
While she was the only sea turtle at the Sea Turtle Conservation Center, she wasn’t the only animal there. There were other turtles, tortoises, and terrapins there who shared similar stories. Turtles and tortoises neglected in the pet trade. Terrapins caught by accident in traps meant for fish and crabs. Yes, luckily all of these animals were saved by humans, but not after being dealt heavy blows by other humans.
The terrapin on the bottom of this adorable pile is missing its front feet. It is unclear how it lost them, but it is believed the injury is human in origin.
This needs to stop. Humankind is killing our planet. These poor turtles are helpless victims in our foolish recklessness. We pollute the seas, the skies, and the lands with filth we consider hallmarks of civilization. Is this what a civilized species does? A civilized species mangles helpless creatures in its reckless pursuit of power? It’s a doomed pursuit if we continue down this path.
Garbage isn’t the only thing that pollutes the Earth. Mankind has a way of displacing other organisms in ways never before seen in this planet’s history. Invasive species are probably just as damaging as any plastic litter, possibly more. They upset ecosystems they are introduced to. This was also on full display at the conservation center.
A flamboyantly colorful fish swam alone in one tank. It was a venomous lionfish, likely caught somewhere in the area, no doubt. These aquatic creatures are especially invasive in the Gulf of Mexico. They are a huge environmental problem. Rather than killing this one, they captured it and put it on display. Kudos to them for showing this poor animal mercy as it is a victim itself. It or its parents were probably brought here in the pet trade to begin with.
Humans are ravaging the planet and it needs to end. How many innocent lives, human or not, must suffer before we stop this madness? Perhaps straw-eating turtles have become a joke to most people. If not straw-eaters, then perhaps I should show the masses a tortured turtle who found herself wrapped in civilization’s waste as a youngling. An innocent creature who lost her flipper to fishing line tied up so tight that it ripped open her flesh and ate its way through her muscles until it was cutting bone. A baby turtle who got struck by the unforgiving rudder of a vessel made by a land based race of ocean-invaders, leaving a permanent gash on the very thing meant to protect her, her shell. The same injury rendered her back flipper immoble. A helpless animal who accidentally ingested some fishing gear like a person accidentally breathing in a virus, causing her throat, stomach, and intestines to get shredded apart by metal fishing hooks until she became unable to eat solid food. Is that a joke to you?
Imagine getting your arm eaten through by fishing line. Imagine getting struck so hard by a boat rudder that your bones are shattered and your back is cracked open like an egg. Imagine swallowing fishing hooks and having them rip you apart from the inside, shredding your soft flesh. That is the hell our arrogance put a baby sea turtle through. Luckily, she was saved. Most aren’t so lucky.
On a brighter note, the center made me think a lot about turtle evolution while there. They even had a diagram showing turtle evolution on the wall that I took a picture of. I don’t know how credible it is since the turtle family tree is one scientists struggle with, but it provides good visual aid. It also gives you an appreciation for how old the turtle family is.
Between seeing a fully-aquatic sea turtle, semi-aquatic terrapins, and completely terrestrial tortoises, my mind began spinning at the slight yet significant variations in this family. The interesting spins to the same body plan that they all shared was very eye-opening to me. And to think that they have stayed this way for hundreds of millions of years. Turtles are probably one of the most interesting creatures to have ever existed, evolutionarily speaking.
Another thing I thought was especially cool was a life-sized chart on the wall of the local sea turtle species. Here you can get a proper appreciation for what size SweetPea might be once full grown, and also for the colossal leatherback sea turtle. Leatherbacks are an awesome giant in their own right.
When on a study vacation a few years back to Merida, Mexico, we learned the Mayan culture had a turtle at the center of God's creating process. Turtles were understood as a metephore for the earth. They also said the breath of the Jaguar was active in creation. Both animals are ironic in that culture. What might your iconic image look like?
I’m glad you had the opportunity to see Sweet Pea and learn first hand what our carelessness and disregard for our planet and its inhabitants can result in. I pick up fishing line and hooks frequently on the beaches. Have even done so back in Iowa. Plastics of all kinds can injure. Cut up the plastic from 6 pack can or bottles so that not even the smallest circle is cut. Getting caught in those may render that animal, fish, turtle, bird etc unable to eat. I first realized the actual harm these items can have was at CROW on Sanibel. They take wildlife from all over Florida that have been seriously injured to rehabilitate if possible. Thank you for your attention to this issue.