It was a true team effort in Brevard County to save a tiny turtle struggling to swim in a Melbourne pond.

"I got distracted with a plastic bag floating across the pond," said Julie Foster, the city of Melbourne's energy program manager.

Foster, who works at the city's Public Works Department on Harper Road, said she spotted something strange in the complex's retention pond a few days before Wednesday.

"It was moving really quickly, and when I looked a little closer, I saw there was a turtle inside of it," Foster explained.

Inside the pond was a small turtle with a plastic grocery bag wrapped around its shell.

"It seemed like the bag was almost melted around him, so it had been there for a while," Foster recalled.

Foster said she knew she had to act as the turtle began trying to climb the bank.

"It felt like a cry for help," she said.

So, Foster flagged down a pair of public works employees with their truck full of tools. They grabbed a pitchfork, reached out, got the turtle and freed him from the bag.

Foster said her new friend then swam away, back into the pond.

She told her co-worker, Jennifer Wilster, who heads the city's Environmental Community Outreach. Wilster tries to educate residents on the dangers of plastic bags.

"It's affecting our wildlife to a big extent," Wilster said.

The Environmental Protection Agency says some 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles are killed by plastic bag litter in the U.S. each year. Some animals can eat the bags, mistaking them for jellyfish — or, in this case, they can get caught in them.

"We don't know how long that poor little guy was trapped in that plastic bag, and I'm glad Julie came along," Wilster said.

"It may be about something as simple as 'just a turtle,' but it's really about a bigger picture," says Foster.

Here's what Melbourne is doing to help:

Source: City of Melbourne

  • We have a division called "ECO," which stands for Environmental Community Outreach.
  • ECO staff give presentations to school kids, teachers, seniors, and other groups in our water service area. They also participate in and help put on community events, like last weekend's successful Indian River Lagoon Day (more than 500 people attended).
  • They distribute newsletters and information about conservation issues and recycling and regularly remind people of the issues with plastic bags in these articles.
  • They give out reusable bags that are made out of recycled plastic bottles to help encourage people not to use plastic bags at all.
  • They also give out biodegradable bags for pet waste and emphasize that these must go in the TRASH not in the recycling bin.

Plastig bag dos and don'ts 

  • We encourage people to use reusable bags or to ask for paper instead.
  • If you do get plastic bags, dispose of them properly — you can recycle them at most grocery stores, or dispose of them in the regular trash.
  • DO NOT put them in the regular recycling bin. Workers spend a lot of time pulling plastic bags out of the recycling stream. If they miss any, they get in the gears and units of the mechanical system and stops production.

Problems with plastic bags

  • Can cause problems in so many different ways. That's why at ECO we work hard to educate people to not put them in the recycling bins, dispose of them properly, or not use them at all.
  • Major source of stormwater pollution.
  • Maintenance issues: clog pipes, clog drainage ditches, etc.
  • Harm wildlife in many ways — entrapment (like the turtle at Harper Road); turtles, dolphins and other sea life will eat the bags mistaking them for jellyfish; the bags break down into small pieces which sea life also can eat.