Baby turtles trapped in “horrendous” Honduras plastic pollution

Baby turtles trapped in “horrendous” Honduras plastic pollution

Underwater photographer Caroline Power has captured horrifying footage of baby turtles struggling to clamber over seaweed that is “half plastic” in Honduras. The footage has gone viral and during a recent interview for BBC Radio 5, she described watching the turtles “crawling across the top of plastic bags, bottles, ear buds, shoes and children’s toys” as “horrendous”. Eighteen of the baby turtles were lucky enough to be rescued by Caroline and taken to a local turtle sanctuary, however many of the remaining turtles had already perished at the hand of human laziness and single-use plastic.

This happens a year after Caroline discovered the plastic “blanket of forks, bottles and rubbish” smothering the Caribbean.

The majority of the month’s headlines regarding plastic have been decidedly optimistic with proposed bans and taxes on the material’s production. However this is a devastating piece of news that perhaps questions the timing of these new laws.

According to Caroline, we need “immediate and far-reaching plastic reduction” if we are to stem the issue.