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Researcher Removes Plastic Straw Lodged in Turtle's Nose

A sea turtle was found with a plastic straw in its nostril. See the extraction. 

Researchers near the coast of Costa Rica came across a sea turtle in distress.

Originally thinking a tube worm was stuck inside its nostril, the team took to the task of taking it out. They soon realized it was, in fact, a four-inch long plastic straw stuck in the turtle's nasal cavity.

The procedure looks painful but relief definitely can be felt at the end.

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Those small pliers luckily did the job. Makes you think twice about the effects of littering, and especially about single use plastic.

Luckily for this turtle, it is able to breathe freely again.

But if you aren't considering how plastic bags, plastic drinking straws, or any other plastic items are affecting marine life, you're a small piece of the bigger problem. It takes a viral video of a fishing hook stuck in a dolphin's flipper to get people concerned.

Or, a plastic straw pulled from an olive Ridley sea turtle's nose.

Can't we spread the dangers of plastic waste through social media, instead of all those dumb cat videos? It shouldn't take a research team of marine biologists to figure that out.

NEXT: CATFISH TURN OLD TIRES INTO BIRTHING DENS

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