The Scratched Neck of a Sea Turtle
By: Lan Feng
Tags: Protection, Board, Environment, Cruise Ships, Pollution

The Scratched Neck of a Sea Turtle

Photo by Travis Colbert on Unsplash

A couple of days ago, I was impressed by a picture from a website. The picture was of a sea turtle that was caught up from the sea by the fishermen occasionally. One day, the fishermen caught a pile of fish, and they were surprised to find a sea turtle. When they put the tortoise on the deck, they found that the middle part of the sea turtle’s neck was very thin, and it moved very slowly. His timid eyes seemed to indicate that he had suffered a very painful process. After looking at the neck carefully, they found out a thin string was tied around into the neck tightly. The fishermen were shocked and angry. They sent the sea turtle to the animal protection agency. After studying, they found that the sea turtle was at least 50 years old. The hurt must come from the string or cord, which had prevented his normal growth.

Actually, I am not an animal protectionist. However, I won’t forget the sight of the survival sea turtle. Who needs to take responsibility for this harm?

Both animals and humans have the same right to live on earth. Humans might kill animals because of their own needs. Animals are innocent and hard to survive. For a long time, humans have exploited too much from nature, and the ocean has been overfished. They can put the fishing net where they can catch the seafood. Not all of them care for the animals in the sea. At the same time, the ocean has been polluted by humans. A lot of trash has been pulled down into the sea. Some people who live nearby to the seaside throw the waste every day without careful treatment. Tourists put the bottle on the beach that can flow over the surface of the sea, even there is the leakage of crude oil and chemical materials from large cruise ships, which have been worse in recent years. It seems the ocean has become a huge trash factory. In return, some people die from polluted water. Consequently, People should account for these things.

Volunteers testing the water of a river. Photo by Zhonghui Xie (2019)

One day I caught some white bass in the river of Elizabeth Park in Detroit, and I cooked them for dinner. My friend asked me if I had read the report for fishing after she knew I cooked the fish from the river in Elizabeth Park. I realized it was very serious if I ate the polluted fish. Meanwhile, I found the government had taken action for preventing contamination. For one example, there are many boards, which warn people of fishing size and category. For another example, the Huron River Management Bureau organizes the volunteers every year to test the water of the pointed river channel. They will analyze the heavy metal content in the water sample, then they will judge if the river is polluted and locate the place accurately. All these help people to build up a common sense of nature protection.

Photo by Zhonghui Xie (2020)

Ann Arbor is a city that is famous for its lush hills and clean river. The government has invested plenty of money in water treatment facilities which benefit water resources and recycling.

In my opinion, people have realized recently that it is the right to take action. As an individual, first, people should have good habits for trash collection. They should take away the trash after they leave the park or the riverbank. Second, people need to report to the River Bureau when they find the pollution in the river. Third, the government needs to inspect all the processes when industrial companies deal with sewage disposal. The water is the base for life. Although people have improved the environment, more actions should be added in order to get long benefits for generations.