A turtley awesome birthday fundraiser for Sam!

Sam Heughan was once quoted as saying, "I'd like to be remembered as someone who made a difference and left the world a better place."

Sam's incredible philanthropy, and his health and well-being platform, My Peak Challenge, are two ways that he is making a difference, at an individual, community, and global level.

Each year, to celebrate Sam's birthday, I have organised a fundraiser in the spirit of his philanthropy.

*Drumroll, please*

This year we are raising funds to support the rescue and rehabilitation of sea turtles.

Sea turtles are incredible creatures (and they always travel with their own "Peaker Pack.")

They have roamed the Earth’s oceans for the last 110 million years, an important link to marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs and seagrass beds.

They live in almost every ocean basin throughout the world, nesting on tropical and subtropical beaches, truly traversing all four corners of the world.

But their lives are not without risk.

It is estimated that as a result of many natural predators including birds, crabs, fish, and mammals like racoons, only one out of 1,000 hatchlings survive.

Sadly, if they do survive as a hatchling, they then face many dangers as they travel the seas — including accidental capture and entanglement in fishing gear (also known as bycatch), the loss of nesting and feeding sites to coastal development, poaching, infections, boating accidents like propeller injuries, and ocean pollution including plastic.

There are seven species of sea turtles and all seven are considered threatened or endangered.

Two are critically endangered (Hawksbill and Kemp’s Ridley), one is endangered (Green) and three are threatened (Leatherback, Olive Ridley, and Loggerhead).

Flatbacks are listed as data deficient on the IUCN Red List but are listed as endangered in Australia.

As we discovered when watching "Finding Nemo", the East Australian Current (EAC) is the ocean's superhighway for six of the world’s seven sea turtle species – Green, Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Leatherback, Flatback and Olive Ridley turtles, and of course, Crush himself!

As the EAC is accessed by so many different sea turtles it is understandable why the east coast of Australia is often the place where injured sea turtles are found and then cared for.

As such, this year, all funds raised via Sam's Birthday Fundraiser will benefit the Australian Seabird & Turtle Rescue Inc.

The Australian Seabird & Turtle Rescue Hospital, located in Ballina, New South Wales, is perhaps the busiest turtle hospital in Australia and cares for, on average, 100 sea turtles per year.

With several expensive treatments required per rescue, rehabilitation and release, we have the opportunity to make a real difference with our birthday fundraiser.

Thank you in advance for your contribution SHELLABRATING the 43rd birthday of such a TURTLEY awesome guy, Sam Heughan.