Another turtle was in danger of dying from plastic in the sea. This time it was a specimen of Caretta caretta, off the coast of Maratea, in Basilicata that ended up almost strangled by our waste, probably by the wrapping of cigarette packets.
Another turtle was in danger of dying from plastic in the sea. This time it was a specimen of Caretta caretta, off the coast of Maratea, in Basilicata, that was almost strangled by our waste, probably by the wrapping of cigarette packets.
Renamed Rosaria, the turtle weighing 20 kilos and 52 cm long, was saved on February 28 by the Coast Guard. The poor creature had an anomalous position. His body seemed to hang to the right, plus the animal couldn't dive.
This made the harbor master suspicious and alerted the WWF Maratea operating group. The biologist Valentina Paduano and the veterinarian Massimo Lo Monaco took care of Rosaria
After being placed in very shallow water at the Sea Turtle Recovery Center in the WWF Oasis of Policoro, the animal slowly adapted to the temperatures and was then moved to a pool with higher water, where swimming anomalies were examined. .
“When the turtles float like this, it's either a lung problem, or they've ingested plastic. To understand what he had an X-ray was needed, performed at the veterinary clinic in Bari, which fortunately ruled out organ problems "assured Dr. Paduano.
As announced, in fact, Rosaria's life was put at risk plastic, excreted by the animal's feces. The turtle had ingested a wrapper typical of cigarette packets. It is not excluded that other fragments are present in his intestine.
Fortunately, the animal is safe and can be considered almost lucky as many turtles are suffocated and killed by our waste. Rosaria will remain under observation at the Policoro recovery center and in the spring, when the weather will be milder and she will have fully regained her strength, she will be able to go back to swimming in the sea.
A problem, that of marine littering, unfortunately difficult to solve. According to a recent WWF report, given that plastic consumption and waste management capacity do not travel at the same speed, their dispersion in the oceans will exceed 9 million tons per year until 2030.
Numbers that are scary and that will mark the fate of many wild animals. Over 270 species are victims of being trapped in abandoned fishing nets and other plastic waste and 240 are found in their stomachs.
To combat this emergency, WWF has launched a global petition to ask United Nations countries to sign an Agreement to end the dispersion of plastic in nature by 2030.
To sign the petition click here
READ also:
- Terrible! All turtles in the world are poisoned by microplastics: the shock study
- Plastic dead, that's what was found in this turtle's stomach
- Plastic is killing 40% of sea turtles, especially baby turtles
Francesca Mancuso
