Photo: Supplied/ Elena Pasilio. Retrieved from rnz.co.nz
In Tokelau, communities are looking after baby turtles after they washed up on the shores of islands in the remote atolls.
Tokelau is a dependent territory of New Zealand, made up of three atolls, in the southern Pacific Ocean.
Five-year-old Ilissapesi Sakalia and her mum Elena Pasilio are incharge of looking after “Popo” and “Uto” two of the more than 30 sea turtles found near their atoll Nukunonu late last year.
‘Popo’ means husked coconut and ‘Uto’ means a coconut sprout.
“We’re looking after them so that they can go back into the ocean when they’re big enough, so that they don’t get eaten by the other sea creatures, like sharks,” Pasilio said.
It’s somewhat of a family tradition and something Elena Pasilio says she experienced and now little Ilissapesi Sakalia is as well.