Crowds Cheer as Sea Turtles Return to the Sea | National Geographic

sea turtles are the Canaries of the
ocean if this ancient creature who is
existed since before the age of the
dinosaurs who survived all the
cataclysmic events that reshaped the
planet if they are in trouble we are in
bigger trouble push him push hard
don’t put your knee okay how the sea
turtle Hospital came to be well we
didn’t do it or turtle did one little
tank in a volunteers backyard was the
start of the sea turtle hospital
very few hatchling turtles survive to
adulthood most of the estimates are
somewhere between one and a thousand and
one in 10,000 but historically those
turtles that did survive to adulthood
were able to live for a number of years
and produce many many offspring what
turtle hospitals do is take some of
those older individuals that would
otherwise be lost and return them so
that they can fulfill their natural
function of replenishing the population
turtles are profoundly affected by
pollutants in particular plastic debris
the loggerheads seem to be programmed
genetically to bite anything that is
floating in the ocean before the ocean
was littered with debris that was a very
good strategy for a survival
I see plastics constantly in this
hospital a balloon floating on the water
looks like a nice tasty jellyfish to
them and they’re going to eat it you get
enough of those inside and they’re going
to clog up the intestinal tract and it
may die
injuries are very diverse we do get
things like shark bites prop cuts
Turtles caught on hook and line we have
the net fishing the turtles get
entangled in the net
somewhere around 90% of our turtles
survived which is an incredible thing
for rehab
the strap itself is shrinking put like
pulling together it’s good it’s good
it’s almost just trying to fight through
the every turtle that we release takes
away a piece of all our hearts in turns
you guys are not gonna be lifting today
talk to Jean you guys are going to be
there’s are wonderful things left with
going over 400 with this latest release
but it is very important to put a
creature of the sea back in the sea
because with all the dangers involved
that is where they belong and I had to
reconcile myself to the fact that we
might spend years a lot of time energy
and effort and love getting that animal
ready to go back home and it might not
last pass the first way I had to
struggle with that and then I knew that
to be a real sea turtle again even if
it’s only four minutes or a day or week
or a year is what it’s all about
you feel that surge of exuberance from
the turtle that is pushing away from you
you that have cared about it for so long
and it’s gone
vomit