A massive Leatherback sea turtle own its life to a young man who was walking on a beach in Grande Riviere, Trinidad Tobago!
Elias Pereira – a 17-year-old originally from Venezuela, was with his mom on a Grande Rivier beach when spotted the big marine creature struggling to move towards the ocean. The Leatherback sea turtle – a female – had laid her eggs on that section of the beach, but when to get back in the waters she got stuck.
“It felt great knowing I had given back something to the ocean that had filled me with so much wonderment and awe,” Pereira who is part of the Seri people told Huffington Post. Fortunately, the young man’s quick-thinking saved the turtle’s life as carefully guided the massive creature back in the ocean. If she would have stayed a few hours more on the land, she would have died.
The sea turtle plays a high role in the Seri culture as it is seen as one of their five creatures. So every time when a turtle is rescued and eventually released back in the wild, the Seri people make a ceremony for the event. Pereira, who says we all own everything to Mather Nature, hopes he will be a marine biologist one day.
The Leatherbacks are the largest of the sea turtle species. They can grow up to 7ft and weigh around 2,000 pounds. Unfortunately, their numbers have dramatically declined over the last years and they are now included on the IUCN Red List as a vulnerable species.
h.t: WhiteWolf
