When doing autopsies of large marine animals, New England Aquarium in Boston veterinarians and biologists commonly find sea turtles and whales that have died due to either entanglement in marine gear or from trauma from being struck by vessels or from gastrointestinal blockage due to the ingestion of plastics.
To their consternation earlier this week, they did a post-mortem examination on a 400 pound leatherback sea turtle that had fallen victim to all three, human-caused hazards – something that they could not recall ever seeing before