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Supermodel, entrepreneur and passionate environmentalist Gisele Bündchen has rescued a turtle trapped in fishing net on the beach.
In a video posted to Instagram, Gisele can be seen unwrapping the netting caught on the turtle’s fin and carrying her back to the ocean where she swims away.
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Captioning the clip, Gisele explains that she came across the turtle while taking a walk with her dog, Onyx, who began “barking at a pile of ocean trash that had washed during high tide.”
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“When I came closer I saw this beautiful turtle turned upside down with a look of hopelessness and exhaustion in her eyes, her body knotted and entangled in a fishing net,” Gisele continues.
“I immediately started to free her from the net that was strangling her, but even after we got her untied, she was too tired to make her way back to the ocean. I didn’t think twice, I just picked her up and carry [sic] her to the water. (Amazing how adrenaline can make you stronger!”
Gisele goes on to say how “relieved and so happy” she was to watch the turtle swim away but also used the opportunity to highlight how many animals are not so lucky:
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“There are so many other animals that unfortunately end up dying on nets like this. Today I was reminded that we must become more aware of our ways as a species and help protect all animals, it’s our choice. I pray that we all rise and remember that the opportunity to change begins with a single act.”
In an Instagram story, she adds that “more than 650,000 marine animals, including dolphins, whales, seas and turtles, are killed or injured in fishing nets each year. In the case of abandoned fishing nets, called ‘ghost nets,’ they are equally as dangerous, killing hundreds of thousands of marine animals.”
Gisele has been a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program since 2009 and is constantly using her platform to draw attention to environmental issues.
Last year, she launched the Viva a Vida initiative which raised funds to plant over 260,000 trees along the Xingu and Araguaia Rives in the Amazon.
(Feature Image Credit: @gisele/Instagram)