Texas A&M University Media Release – Earlier this year, Texas A&M graduate student Christine Figgener traveled to Costa Rica to study ridley sea turtles for her doctoral dissertation. While examining one male turtle, she and her companions found a long plastic straw lodged in the turtle’s nostril. Her video of the team extracting the straw has received more than 5.5 million views on YouTube. You can view  the story behind that video below this article.

As reported by The Costa Rica Star earlier this year through a wire from our international news partner, the plight of a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle that biologists in Costa Rica rid of a plastic straw stuck in its nose highlights the need to reduce the use of the synthetic material, since 8 million tons of plastics are dumped in the oceans each year, biologist Nathan Robinson told EFE.

Robinson and Christine Figgener, of the Leatherback Trust, posted a video on social media showing biologists using pliers to pull a 15-centimeter (six-inch) straw from the sea turtle’s nostrils.

The pain, blood and a groan emitted by the turtle make for disturbing viewing.

The animal, found in Costa Rica’s Pacific waters, was harmed by pollution of its habitat.

“This video is so compelling because it conveys the suffering we are causing,” Robinson said. “That sliver of plastic that hardened inside the turtle’s nose might have been used by any of us, causing suffering for an innocent turtle.”

The British biologist said that in his travels across oceans, he had seen turtles eating plastic many times, with fishing hooks snagged in their mouths, fins or internal organs, and turtles with their shells deformed by tangled plastic.

“There is a problem with the use of plastics in Costa Rica, but it is not only in this country, it is a problem around the world,” Robinson said. “Oceans have a lot of plastic pollution and this affects turtles, fish, whales, birds, practically all species living in the oceans.”