During the event on April 12, volunteers collected over 10,000 pieces of trash in under two hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we do is born of our love for the ocean and our love for the environment,\u201d said Sarah Butler, volunteer and executive director for the nonprofit Waves 4 Women<\/a>. \u201cAnd so, if we\u2019re not good stewards of it, then it\u2019s not going to be here for us to be part of. So, this impacts everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n During the beach sweep, volunteers spotted something struggling in the water \u2014 a young Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle, which is one of the most endangered sea turtles in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis was Folly Beach\u2019s first stranding of our 2026 season,\u201d Dave Miller, of Folly Beach Turtle Watch<\/a>, said in a statement. \u201cThis turtle is a large juvenile Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle. There are seven species of sea turtles in the world. The Kemp\u2019s ridley is the smallest and most endangered of the seven.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKemp\u2019s ridley sea turtles rarely nest in South Carolina,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey primarily nest on beaches in the Gulf of Mexico. They nest in large groups together and are the only sea turtle that nest during the day.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Miller, the sea turtle had been hooked in the mouth by an angler off the Folly Beach fishing pier. Fortunately, when the rescue team raised the turtle using a drop net, the hook dislodged on its own.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a sea turtle is hooked by a fisherman, it\u2019s important that the fisherman not try to remove the hook from the turtle\u2019s mouth,\u201d Miller advised. \u201cThe line should be cut, leaving several feet still attached. This makes it easier for the veterinarian to locate the swallowed hook \u2026 If a hook had been swallowed, the turtle would have been transported to the Sea Turtle Care Center.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n About a week prior, on April 4, another Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle was found stranded on the sandy shores of Mustang Island, Texas<\/a>. The female turtle was spotted by lifeguard and marine biology student Nevaeh Vela, who quickly realized that she was having trouble breathing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Later, when the sea turtle was picked up by specialists from the Amos Rehabilitation Keep at the University of Texas at Austin<\/a>, they discovered that she had a fishing hook fragment lodged in her trachea.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fortunately, the team was able to remove the fragment safely with an endoscopy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe turtle is being monitored closely, and [she] is on antibiotics, pain medication, and anti-inflammatories,\u201d ARK staff supervisor Andrew Orgill told Chron<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the sea turtle\u2019s predicament has become all too common for Orgill and his colleagues.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDiscarded gear is sometimes referred to as \u2018ghost gear,\u2019\u201d Orgill said, emphasizing the importance of leaving the beach and ocean cleaner than you found it. \u201cOther impacts include deep lacerations, flipper amputations, inability to swim properly, ingestion of baits, hooks, and line.\u201d<\/p>\n It was an advisory that local Turtle Watch volunteer Vanessa Oltman echoed after the juvenile Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtle was rescued on Folly Beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe only have one planet, and this is it,\u201d Oltman said, through the voice of local mascot Toby the Turtle. \u201cSo, without the animals that we have on Earth, the wild and marine life, we will not exist either, because we are all supposed to coexist together. So, it\u2019s very important that we teach the children from small all the way up how important it is to pick up litter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69dd257a4ad279e112493add_beach-cleanup-endangered-sea-turtle-rescued.jpg\")
A representative image of a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, one of the most endangered sea turtles on the planet. Image via Pixabay (CC0 1.0)<\/p>\n