What was supposed to be a routine trip home in Roxas City, Philippines, became an animal rescue when fisherman Arnold Bongalonta discovered a juvenile hawksbill sea turtle caught in his net. He chose to seek help rather than try to free it on his own, a move that gave the critically endangered species a second chance.
Here's what to know
Bongalonta made the find on July 31 while heading home. Fearing he might worsen possible injuries by handling the turtle himself, he contacted the Philippine Coast Guard, and personnel from the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office's Conservation and Development Section came out to assist, Good Good Good reported.
Once officials examined the animal, they identified it as a juvenile hawksbill with a shell about the size of a dinner plate. Because the assessment found no serious injuries, the turtle was returned to the sea that same day.
The species has been under pressure from extinction for decades. The National Marine Fisheries Service says hawksbills are concentrated across the Caribbean, Indian, and Indo-Pacific Oceans and nest in more than 60 countries, including the Philippines and Australia.
More background
Bycatch, entanglement, and collisions with boats all threaten hawksbill sea turtles, and human activity and planetary warming are making those dangers harder to escape. Rising temperatures can damage nesting beaches, raise sand temperatures, alter sex ratios of eggs, and contribute to dangerous stranding events.
That danger was visible in New South Wales, Australia, in December 2025, when dehydrated hawksbills washed ashore during the Southern Hemisphere's summer heat. One of them, a turtle later named Bear, was taken to the Mudgeroo Wombat & Wildlife Refuge for urgent treatment after spending so long adrift that barnacles and algae had built up on its body, according to Good Good Good.
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After three months of rehabilitation, Bear was approved for release on March 21. Conservation efforts are also underway in places such as the Seychelles, where at-risk eggs were moved before coastal erosion could destroy them.
What's being done?
Bongalonta did not try to handle the situation alone; he reported the entanglement and let responding officials oversee the turtle's evaluation and safe release.
Other interventions start even earlier, before hatchlings emerge. On May 3, University of Sheffield Ph.D. student Alessia Lavigne, whose field is marine biology and zoology, shared video from the Seychelles of baby hawksbills reaching the ocean after their eggs were moved away from eroding shoreline areas.
"All these baby turtles would not have survived without conservation intervention," Lavigne wrote.
@turtle_eggsplorer All these baby turtles would not have survived without conservation intervention. 🌊 The conservation team on @cousineislandseychelles return these baby Hawksbill sea turtles onto the beach following their successful hatching in their hatchery. 🥚 Nests that would have otherwise perished are moved into the hatchery as a last resort. For instance this nest would have been completely washed away by the increasingly aggressive coastal erosion potentially due to climate change. 🐢 Thanks to the conservation team, they are given a second chance at life. #turtle #turtles #cuteanimals #wildlife #animals ♬ kingdom dance x eleanor rigby x dragons x avengers - Ams (they/them)
Lavigne said the relocation was "a last resort" because the eggs risked being "completely washed away by the increasingly aggressive coastal erosion." After one viewer commented, "I hope they all make it!," she responded: "They've been given the best second chance at life."
As Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna described Bongalonta's actions, "By immediately reporting this entanglement, he saved a critically endangered life and proved that our local fishers are indispensable partners in conservation."
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