An endangered sea turtle has been found dead on an Alabama beach with a beach chair string tangled around its neck.
The Fort Morgan Share the Beach conservation group posted a photo on social media Saturday of the Kemp's Ridley turtle washed ashore turned upside down at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. The conservation group posted other images of the sea turtle tangled with the University of Alabama beach chair.
Matt Ware, a PhD student and marine ecologist, was part of a group that was on morning nesting patrol when he came across the turtle.
"It is always tough seeing an animal in such a preventable situation, especially since Kemp's are critically endangered," Ware told NBC 6.
Share the Beach spokeswoman Debbie Harbin told WKRG-TV that barnacles were found on the chair meaning it had been in the water for a while. She and Ware urged beachgoers to clean up their belongings and trash.
"As ecologists, we do what we can to help people be better stewards of the environment, but we need input from the community at large to make it happen," Ware said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the sea turtle has been on the endangered species list since 1970.
