Sea turtle found dead, wrapped in plastic trash and fishing line on Florida coast

A sea turtle was found dead on the coast of Florida, tangled in plastic waste and a fishing line.

According to a local station in Florida, the turtle’s body was discovered at the Pensacola Beach. 

Photos began to circulate online showing the turtle ashore, apparently with fish line wrapped around its fin.

Brantly Keiek, a Florida resident who was able to capture photos of the animal on Monday, stated he saw local animal control officers documenting the incident shortly after he arrived on the beach.

“There was a small group of people gathered on the beach near the deceased turtle and local animal control officers were on the scene documenting the incident,” he said.

Keiek said he decided to share photos of the animal on social media in an effort to “help spread awareness about the importance not littering, especially in coastal areas, where animals can mistake trash as food.”

The report comes several months after a team of researchers found plastic in the guts of all sea turtle species examined in a study back in December.

The study looked at more than 100 turtles from all seven species spanning the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean and found over 800 synthetic particles in the bodies of the turtles.

This amount of plastic being found in sea turtles is a troubling trend that hurts sea turtles and is caused by plastic pollution in our oceans.