Endangered Leatherback Turtle Killed by Plastic Pollution in Massachusetts
November 10, 2018

Veterinarians and biologists work to save the leatherback turtle found in bad shape on a beach in Brewster, Massachusetts.
Credit: New England Aquarium

The New England Aquarium has reported that a endangered leatherback turtle that was found on a beach in Brewster, Massachusetts in bad condition on October 31st died on November 3rd at the aquarium's hospital in Quincy, Massachusetts. The 420-pound leatherback turtle was found to have ingested a 11x5 inch piece of plastic and was also found with a bad entanglement wound that had become infected. This is a stark and terrible example of the multitude of threats that the endangered turtles and North Atlantic right whales who live in these waters face on a daily basis as they simply try to live their lives. The Cape Cod Times stated that, "Since 2005, 220 endangered leatherbacks have been entangled in vertical marine ropes off of Massachusetts, according to the aquarium. There have been additional entanglements in 2018." There are solutions to stopping this and we list many of them on our Action section here on our website. We encourage our readers to check it out and see the actions that we can all take to help stop this.

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Leatherback that stranded in Brewster dies at aquarium hospital