Balloon Found Inside Entangled Sea Turtle - Donkey Kong's Rescue Story
1 Video View·Apr 9, 2026
Donkey Kong, a critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, was rescued on June 13, 2018, with fishing gear line from a marker buoy wrapped around its flipper. The turtle was taken to Clearwater Marine Aquarium's animal hospital where it was examined and received fluids. Part of an ingested plastic balloon was later discovered after passing through Donkey Kong’s body. Marine debris and plastics in the ocean are a growing problem for sea turtles and other marine life. Donkey Kong will continue to rehabilitate and be monitored at Clearwater Marine Aquarium until cleared for release.
I'm starting to speak now.
Seeing sea turtles come in with any type of human interaction that causes them to need
to be rehabbed makes me feel actually very sad.
More frequently we are seeing more sea turtles come in with a lot of human interaction, which
means things that are caused by us.
So that would be anything like boat strikes, or trash ingestion, or even fishing line.
All sea turtle species are threatened or endangered, and if we keep following this path of human
interaction, this could potentially cause them to be extinct.
If you see any turtle in distress, please call our number here or your local rescue
to be able to help give these sea turtles a second chance and bring them back home to
the wild.