In 2016 a worker in Papua New Guinea named Arron Culling spotted two live sea turtles for sale as food at a local market. He bought them, drove a few kilometres along the coast and carried them back to the water. His photos of the release, shared on Facebook, travelled around the world.
Culling summed it up in a single line: "Got them for 50 bucks drove 5km up the road and let them go." According to the reports, he and a co-worker named Mark had already freed about ten turtles this way. The pictures show a simple act of kindness, but they also open bigger questions: why turtles end up in markets, which species are at risk, and whether buying an animal to free it is a good idea. Below are the photographs with the story behind each, followed by what conservation experts recommend if you want to help sea turtles.
The market find
Culling with the two turtles on the back of a vehicle, still bound with the straps used at the market. He posted that he had "found these at the local market", where turtles are sold for their meat. The species were not named in the reports; both have hard shells, which rules out the leatherback.
Back to the beach
Carrying one of the turtles across a dark volcanic-sand beach toward the surf. Adult hard-shelled sea turtles can weigh well over 50 kilograms, so moving them is hard work. The litter on the sand is a reminder that marine debris is another threat these animals face.
Once set down near the water line, the turtle heads for the sea on its own. Sea turtles are clumsy on land but powerful swimmers, and they leave the water as adults mainly when females come ashore to nest.
The final moment, as the waves reach the turtle. A release like this gives an individual animal another chance, though its survival afterwards also depends on its health and on not being caught again.
Why sea turtles are under pressure
There are seven species of sea turtle: green, loggerhead, Kemp's ridley, olive ridley, hawksbill, flatback and leatherback. Their status varies. On the IUCN Red List, the hawksbill and Kemp's ridley are critically endangered; the loggerhead, olive ridley and leatherback are vulnerable; the flatback is data deficient; and the green turtle was reassessed as least concern in 2025 after recovery in several regions. So the common line that "nearly all" sea turtles are endangered is now out of date, even though most species remain at risk.
The main threats are well documented. Turtles and their eggs are still taken for food in many coastal communities, and illegal trade in meat, eggs and hawksbill shell continues in parts of Asia and Latin America. Accidental capture in fishing nets and on long lines kills large numbers, plastic can block their guts, light pollution draws hatchlings away from the sea, and warmer sand is skewing the ratio of males to females. All seven species are listed in CITES Appendix I, which bans international commercial trade, but rules on local harvest differ from country to country.
Is buying turtles to free them a good idea?
For the two animals in these photos, the purchase clearly made a difference. As a strategy, though, conservation groups are cautious. Paying market prices can keep demand alive and reward the people who catch the turtles, and a turtle released in the wrong place or in poor health may not survive. Some species also have specific ranges and nesting beaches, so where a turtle goes back into the sea matters.
That does not make Culling's gesture wrong; it simply means it is not a substitute for the measures that work at scale. Those include enforcing protections, supporting communities so they have alternatives to harvesting turtles, using turtle excluder devices in fishing nets, which have cut turtle bycatch in shrimp trawls by around 97%, and protecting nesting beaches. In places such as Tortuguero in Costa Rica, turtle-watching tourism now earns more for local people than hunting once did.
How you can help sea turtles
- Never buy turtle meat, eggs or tortoiseshell products, at home or abroad.
- If you see turtles for sale or an injured turtle, report it to local wildlife authorities or a recognised rescue centre rather than handling it yourself.
- Choose seafood from fisheries that use turtle-safe gear.
- Cut down on single-use plastic and join beach clean-ups.
- On nesting beaches, keep lights off or shielded at night and give nesting females and hatchlings space.
Culling's story spread because it showed one person choosing to act. The best way to honour that impulse is to support the long-term work that keeps turtles out of markets in the first place.
Sources: Bored Panda: Man buys turtles from food market and releases them; Wikipedia: Sea turtle. Photos: Arron Culling, via Facebook.
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