In the heart of Papua New Guinea, an extraordinary act of compassion unfolded when Arron Culling, a New Zealand resident, rescued two sea turtles from a local food market. For just 50 U.S. dollars, Culling and his co-worker Mark purchased the turtles that were destined to become someone’s meal, instead releasing them back into the ocean.
“Found these at the local market,” Culling wrote on Facebook, “got them for 50 bucks drove 5km up the road and let them go.”
This wasn’t a one-time rescue. Culling revealed on Facebook that he and Mark have liberated approximately 10 sea turtles from potential consumption. The photos of their rescue quickly went viral, garnering 79,283 shares and catching the attention of wildlife experts.
The context of this tender-hearted rescue operation is stark. Six out of seven sea turtle species are classified as endangered or vulnerable, with an estimated 42,000 legally killed each year. Marine turtle fishing remains legal in several countries, including Papua New Guinea, Australia, and Mexico, where coastal communities harvest these creatures for meat and shells.
While Culling’s friends celebrated his actions with comments like “The world needs more ninja turtles” and predictions of karmic rewards, not all experts view his approach positively. Moby Solangi from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies told HuffPost that buying turtles from the market might actually incentivize more turtle catching, potentially creating an additional market for these endangered creatures.
Terry Norton, a veterinarian from the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, praised Culling’s intervention, noting the rescued juvenile turtles should have no trouble navigating back to their natural habitat. However, Dan Evans from Sea Turtle Conservancy cautioned that the turtles might risk recapture if they return to their original location.
Despite these differing opinions, Culling’s compassionate act deserves recognition. Especially after it went viral, the rescue operation definitely had much more positive effects than negative ones, highlighting the ongoing challenges facing sea turtle populations and drawing global attention to their precarious existence in a world where human consumption threatens their survival.
