Marine turtles have been roaming the oceans for 100 million years. But human activities are putting these reptiles under great strain.

To understand how encouraging and appalling our behavior towards sea turtles is, there is no better place than the Burj-al-ArabJumeirah Hotel in Dubai. The 780-square-meter Royal Suite here has a private cinema and seventeen types of pillows to suit your desires. The weekend rate can exceed 45,000 euros, but I’m here to see guests staying for free.

I walk past a fleet of white Rolls-Royces to meet British marine biologist David Robinson. We take the elevator to a parking lot full of Lamborghinis, before our destination: a maze of pipes and plastic pools. This is the intensive care unit of a state-of-the-art sea turtle hospital. In a bathtub is a green turtle suffering from internal organ injuries. One floor up, the aquariums are full of sick hawksbill turtles (a critically endangered species).[…]

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