While out on their boat, Miguel Angel Escobar and his family spotted something on shore that made them very sad.
Tangled in the roots of a tree on a remote beach in Honduras, they saw a large sea turtle. The animal was lodged at an angle and wasn’t moving and they thought she was dead.
screenshots via Facebook / YouTube
But they went over to check in case they were wrong. And when Miguel reached out to the inert turtle she moved!
“When I touched her, she instantly let out a sigh and she started to move her head,” he told the Dodo.
Miguel immediately set about to free her. He took a machete and began cutting at the root that was trapping the turtle. It took a bit of effort, but when the branch snapped off, the turtle fell into the water.
But she still needed help, having landed on her back. Grabbing one of her flippers, Miguel gently flipped her over and began to pull her into deeper water. The turtle began swimming out to deeper waters right away.
As the turtle made its way back into the ocean, Miguel’s wife can be heard saying: “Look at it go. ‘I’m alive’. How beautiful.” She adds, “Saved!”
“I thought that the turtle would need to rest on the shore and recover her strength,” Miguel told the Dodo afterwards. “But she instantly swam away, strong and fast, like someone who was jumping for joy.”
Since the video was posted on social media it has gone viral with millions of views and many people commending Miguel’s actions.
Miguel, who lives on Utila, a small Caribbean island in Honduras, said that he was very happy to have helped the turtle survive. Turtles are endangered species, so Miguel’s kind act not only saved the turtle but possibly future generations as well.
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