We all follow cute animal meme accounts like anmalsdoingthings, and most of the time we
mindlessly tag our friends and say things like omg so cute. but with the case of short
clips, few of us really understand the context behind them. You might think you're looking
at a cute video of an animal, but whats happening in reality might be far more disturbing. Thats
exactly happned with the case of a viral video of a baby turtle.
Welcome back to inform overload, i'm charlotte dobre, normally we cover the news on this
platform, but when i came across this story about a viral video of a baby turtle, i decided
i want to spread awareness. Please like and subscribe for more trending news updates.
And without further adue, This is the dark truth about that viral turtle video.
So, lets talk about the clip in question. ITs pretty short, only about 25 seconds long.
In it, a newborn turtle can be seen spinning around on its back. it looks like its doing
flips in the water and playing. The video is actually a couple years old. It went viral
two years ago in february of 2017, and was flooded with comments of people saying things
like, cute and adorable. People also compared the turtles movements to their friends, and
said things like, omg this is totally you. but the dark truth behind this viral video
of a baby turtle is only now beginning to surface.
Whats actually being shown is not a cute baby turtle enjoying its first few minutes on earth,
that turthle is actually an animal in distress. Every time that turtle flips around, its struggling
to take a breath. Its drowning. According to Kaiulani Creamer Shory, a 27
year old volunteer at the facility the turtle was born at in Tortugranja Mexico, shortly
after that baby turtle was born, it had to be euthanized to end its suffering. That turtle
was suffering from a severe neurological problem that prevented him from being able to control
its flippers. Because this turtle couldnt swim properly, it couldnt breathe properly.
If this turtle was released into the wild with its brothers and sisters, it would have
drowned within an hour. Shory was quoted saying.The hatchling in the
video was only a few hours old when it was filmed. In the pile of awkward flapping babies
(they really are not designed for land) it was impossible to tell that the individual’s
behaviour was abnormal. Only an hour or so after the day’s hatchlings
were placed in the nursery pools, staff went around to do the morning feed and spotted
the turtle. They immediately moved it to our hospital room where we carefully assessed
it. Then the team decided that the only course
of action was to end its suffering, while simultaneously affording him every kindness
they could. The sanctuary where teh turtle was born protects
turtle eggs until they hatch. Baby turles have it pretty rough, they not only have to
worry about making it to the ocean, they have to worry about predators and poachers. So
Tortugranja protects turtle eggs keep them under a 24 hour guard, bury them in a chicken
wire nest until they hatch. Then after 150 babies emerge, the nests are transfered to
nursery pools until nightfall, at which point they are released into the wild.
If you're an average person looking at this video of a baby turtle, you might not think
much of it. But trained professionals and animal experts do know the difference. Thats
why Kaiulani has made it her mission to put the truth out there and educate people abotu
the dangers of misinterpreting things we see on the internet. She explained:
For those trained in animal welfare, the animal’s distress is very obvious in the video, which
makes it upsetting to watch once you have that information.
But also, the video shows only a symptom – loss of mobility control – which without further
examination does not have a single clear cause, leading many to speculate when they have no
context. The comment section was split between ‘omg
cutest thing ever!!!! Happy turtle!!!’ And ‘that turtle has a bacterial infection because
that place is abusive to turtles!!!!!’ Both extremes of misinformation can be detrimental
to the work the centre does, as well as to animal welfare as a whole.
I firmly believe that education is the key to conservation and preventing the spread
of misinformation is important to me, so it was important to set the record straight.
So with that being said, I hope this video has made you guys think about what's on social
media. I'm not saying go and troll every post of an animal and assume something more sinister
is going on. What i am saying is, be aware that posts on social media should not always
be taken at face value. Always be aware and question everything. even IO videos. if you're
suspicious about a particular subject or story, look into it on your own. Commenting and spreading
misinformation about an outlets intentions without knowing the full story is potentially
damaging to our credibility. All it takes is a couple seconds of your time to google
a story to find out if its true, and crosscheck facts. Or, if you are interested, the sources
for our stories are always posted in the desription of the video.
Alright so with that being said, i'm gonna lighten the mood and respnd to some comments
from my video, the dark truth about being verified on instagram.
Kelsey Nichole Bray - wow this is crazy! thank you so muich for the insight on the blue check
mark. super helpful to know these things and to think about. i'm glad you liked that video,
it was definitely a shocker for me too. callum lynch - love charlottes hair looks
like black widow. Blurry Face - i'd rather have my comment featured
on IO than be verified. wish granted. full of memes - charlotte reminds me of my
mom when she was younger. thats good because my agent is starting to send me out for mom
roles. spicy potato - worst part of the video. 5:03.
that was cute. for those that didnt pick up on that little joke, 5:03 was when the video
ended. and sadly this video is also now over but
if you wanna keep watching, theres a playlist of a bunch of dark truth videos thats clickable
on your screen. and obviosuly if you enjoyed this video you should leave a thumbs up, susbcribe
and turn on notifications so i can see you in a future io video.