Former basketball star Yao Ming calls for protection of sea turtles

Chinese basketball icon and environment advocate Yao Ming is now adding sea turtles to his list of endangered wildlife he is calling on the public to protect.

The towering former Houston Rockets star recently joined charity staff and volunteers at a beach in Sanya, releasing rescued green sea turtles into the ocean waters.

“I think it’s very important to raise awareness in our country about protecting wild animals and passing it on to our next generation like my daughter,” said Yao, whose four-year-old daughter also came to wave goodbye to the sea creatures.

The event, co-hosted by charity Sea Turtles 911 and Hainan Normal University in China’s southernmost Hainan province, aimed to expand conservation efforts and educate local people, many of whom view the animals as a source of seafood and jewellery.

“Watching a marine turtle swim for freedom back to nature, people grow mindful of how breathtaking sea turtles are within the vast ocean expanse,” said Sea Turtles 911 founder Frederick Yeh, who hopes events like this could lead people to “an epiphany that turtles belong in the wild, and not in the market”.