Supermodel and environmental advocate Gisele Bündchen posted a video onto her Instagram account of a sea turtle entangled in a ghost fishing net on a
Supermodel and environmental advocate Gisele Bündchen posted a video onto her Instagram account of a sea turtle entangled in a ghost fishing net on a beach. The turtle was flipped on its back and completely entangled in the plastic net when Bündchen, who joined the United Nation’s Wild for Life campaign in 2016 and chose a sea turtle as her “kindred species,” came across the reptile when her dog, Onyx, alerted her to the animal. Bündchen worked to free the reptile from what could have been a very bad outcome.
The video, which was posted just three days ago has received nearly 2 million likes on Instagram.
“Life is a series of opportunities that appear daily, and we choose what to do with them. Today was no different,” Bündchen wrote on Instagram.
“Early this morning I was walking on the beach and Onyx started barking at a pile of ocean trash that had washed during high tide. When I came closer I saw this beautiful turtle turned upside down with a look of hopelessness and exhaustion in her eyes, her body knotted and entangled in a fishing net.
I immediately started to free her from the net that was strangling her, but even after we got her untied, she was too tired to make her way back to the ocean. I didn’t think twice, I just picked her up and carry her to the water.(amazing how adrenaline can make you stronger!) I felt relieved and so happy to see her swim away freely, grateful that I was there and able to help.
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But there are so many other animals that unfortunately end up dying on nets like this. Today I was reminded that we must become more aware of our ways as a species and help protect all animals, it’s our choice.
I pray that we can all rise and remember that the opportunity to change begins with a single act 🙏”
Thank you Gisele Bündchen for saving the sea turtle, and thank you for advocating for them in the U.N.’s Wild For Life campaign.
All seven species of marine turtles: green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), flatback (Natator depressus), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) have been listed in the CITES Appendices since 1975 and were included into CITES Appendix 1 in 1981. Commercial trade in any of these species is prohibited, though they are still traded on the illegal meat markets to satisfy demand in China.
