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ENVIRONMENT | BIRDS
Birds So Full of Plastic Waste They ‘Crunch and Crackle When They Move’!
What we are doing to nature: today is ‘Endangered Species Day’
‘I’m sad to say just yesterday we blew [the record] out of the water, and our new record holder is 778 pieces of plastic in an 80-day-old seabird chick, in one of the most pristine corners of our planet.’
Dr Jen Lavers
Off Australia’s east coast is a tiny island called Lord Howe Island. It is a sanctuary of volcanic rock. Around 44,000 shearwaters, commonly known as mutton birds, live on it, in addition to 500 people. The sanctuary is so carefully preserved that there is a strict control on the number of people visiting it.
Dr Jen Lavers, is the coordinator of Adrift Labs. One of the objectives of Adrift Labs is to monitor wild species, especially birds as early-warning signs of environmental pollution. She has been studying the shearwaters on the island for 18 years, and is shocked to find the amount of plastic in them.
They found a bird last month with plastic accounting for almost a fifth of its body weight .
The mutton birds have become so full of plastic, that they ‘crunch and crackle when they move!’
