Wildlife activists on Thursday released 12 critically endangered turtles, seized from a popular tourism area into the sea in the central province of Ninh Thuan.

On June 20, the Suoi Tien Cultural Park handed over the hawksbill sea turtles to the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center in Ho Chi Minh City. 

The turtles, weighing a combined 110 kilograms, had been kept in the park’s aquarium for several years.

The park’s management board handed over the turtles to the rescue center after being informed that the turtles belonged to protected species.

The hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, five of the planet’s seven species of sea turtles are found in Vietnam and are in danger of extinction.

The five species are green sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, olive ridley sea turtle and leatherback sea turtle.