Gisele Bundchen has helped a sea turtle trapped in a fishing net and washed up on a beach to escape an untimely death.

The rescue was filmed and posted on the Brazilian supermodel’s Instagram page, which she used to urge people to be more aware of humanity’s impact on wild animals and the planet.

In the video, Bundchen, who appears distressed, is squatting over the sea turtle and removing the ropes of the net which are tangled around its flipper and head.

The reptile lays upside down in the brightly coloured fishing net as the 41-year-old model gently pulls its flipper out of the ropes and turns it back over on its belly.

She then grips the sides of the animal’s shell and hoists it up, before walking towards where the water meets the beach to return it to the sea. The turtle is seen flapping its flippers before resting for a moment in the shallow waters.

Bundchen continues filming it until it gathers enough energy to pull itself into deeper water and swim away.

She explained she came across the turtle during an early morning walk on the beach with her dog, Onyx, who started barking at what appeared to be a pile of ocean trash that had been brought onto the shore by the high tide.

“When I came closer I saw this beautiful turtle turned upside down with a look of hopelessness and exhaustion in her eyes, her body knotted and entangled in a fishing net,” wrote Bundchen.

“I immediately started to free her from the net that was strangling her, but even after we got her untied, she was too tired to make her way back to the ocean.

“I didn’t think twice, I just picked her up and carry [sic] her to the water (amazing how adrenaling can make you stronger!)”

Bundchen, who is an anti-fur activist, said that although she felt “grateful” to have been there to help rescue the turtle, “so many other animals… unfortunately end up dying on nets like this”.

“Today I was reminded that we must become more aware of our ways as a species and help protect all animals, it’s our choice,” she continued.

“I pray that we can all rise and remember that the opportunity to change begins with a single act.”

Celebrity friends and fans flooded the model’s comments with praise, including fellow models Gigi Hadid, Heidi Klum, and Karlie Kloss.

Bundchen previously spoke about how she decided to stop wearing real animal fur for any fashion campaigns, after a Victoria’s Secret runway she had been walking in 2002 was stormed by PETA protesters.

The activists rushed to onto the runway as Bundchen was walking with signs that said: “Gisele: Fur Scum”.

She later told Vogue in a 2018 interview that the “shock” from the incident “stopped me in my tracks”. At the time, she had recently signed a contract with mink furrier Blackglama.

“[PETA] sent me all these videos. I wasn’t aware of what was happening, and I was devastated. So I said: ‘Listen, I’m not doing fur campaigns’,” Bundchen said.

In a separate interview, also with Vogue, she said: “I want to encourage all people to make conscious choices, to be aware of how clothing is made and its effect on the environment that we all share.

“I believe we need to strive to learn how to live in harmony with each other and all of nature. We are all living on this beautiful planet together and when we hurt one species, we hurt all of us. We are all connected.”