San Diego City College sculpture students built a 5-hole mini golf course in order to bring awareness to endangered species. 

The course boast 3-D dolphins, a turtle and contaminated environments. 

Abdul Al-Basam, a fine arts student who had the chance to visit the course on Thursday, said that it’s a great stress relief. Al-Basam also enjoys golfing, when he gets the chance.

“I used to play a lot of mini golf locally, when the mini golf courses were still around, but they have since been taken down, so there’s no real place for me to play,” he said. 

The sculptures showcased the dolphins swimming in polluted water, the turtle with a straw up its nose and tire marks scarring its shell, as well as a representation of what it would be like to swim in trash-filled water.

”It’s very graphic,” Al-Basam said. “We care about this world enough to live in it, do whatever we want in it. So we should at least be courteous, take care of those that don’t have the same abilities that we do, but also want to coexist.”

Many ecologists believe the growing number of species that are disappearing rapidly indicates we are in a sixth mass extinction event.

According to Everyday California, there are only about 60 green sea turtles left in San Diego. They have made a home in the Marine Protected Area of La Jolla, an environment which is typically too cold for them, but they have adapted over time. 

“Sometimes the truth isn’t easy to see or know about,” Al-Basam said. 

The sculptors in charge of the course took action by posting facts next to each exhibit corresponding to each animal. 

“I think it’s a very sensitive topic that isn’t easy to talk about, but I think it is something that needs to be shown. Needs to be understood,”  Al-Basam said. 

The mini-golf course will be available Friday, Nov. 22 from 9 a.m. -3 p.m. and is scheduled to open the week after Thanksgiving break, from Tuesday to Thursday, 12-4 p.m., weather permitting.