A recent storm hit South Africa, flooding the Turtle Conservation Center in Cape Town with over 500 baby sea turtles, mostly loggerheads. Instead of heading to the ocean, these little turtles ended up stranded on beaches. This unexpected flood of turtles overwhelmed the center, which usually only deals with a few of them over several months after the hatching season. But the storm changed that, forcing conservationists to act fast. Under the leadership of Talitha Noble-Trull, head of the Turtle Conservation Center, volunteers and staff are working hard to help these young turtles. Each turtle gets checked and treated carefully, some needing extra care because they are injured, malnourished, or sick.

But there is another problem: plastic pollution. Many of the rescued turtles had swallowed tiny bits of plastic. This shows how dangerous marine debris is for sea creatures. Even small pieces of plastic, like those as tiny as a fingernail, can harm them. Noble-Trull says turtles are like alarms for the health of the oceans. Their struggles with plastic show how serious ocean pollution is. By taking care of these turtles and documenting their encounters with plastic, conservationists hope to make people more aware and push for actions to keep our oceans safe. The main goal is to nurse these baby turtles back to health and set them free in the ocean, where they belong. But their journey is a reminder of the constant dangers marine life faces and why the oceans should be protected.