12:39am.
Plastic Effects on Animals:
Plastic is not only becoming a huge problem for humans but has been hurting animals for a while now especially marine animals. All types of marine creatures have been affected and some killed form the pollution of plastics in the oceans and freshwater. Animals eat plastic because they cannot distinguish plastic from something that is digestible to them. Some do it by accident such as whales who are filter feeders, the microbeads can look like fish eggs to some marine animals, hunting seabirds may think floating debris such as cigarette is shrimp or another source of food and eat it.
Plastic doesn't kill the animals quickly either its slow painful deaths for the animals most of the time. It can get caught in the animals' throats causing suffocation or prevent feeding, it also causes sea birds to become entangled in something causing them to either drown or slowly starve to death because they cannot get food or water, and it could also accumulate in the animals stomach eventually making it not want to eat which will cause it to starve to death. Plastic pollution can also facilitate the transportation of invasive species and disease (5).
Plastic impacts all living things and ecosystems on this planet. While it is essential to daily life, we need to find a more sustainable way to create it and dispose of it.
Gavin G.
Plastic is not only becoming a huge problem for humans but has been hurting animals for a while now especially marine animals. All types of marine creatures have been affected and some killed form the pollution of plastics in the oceans and freshwater. Animals eat plastic because they cannot distinguish plastic from something that is digestible to them. Some do it by accident such as whales who are filter feeders, the microbeads can look like fish eggs to some marine animals, hunting seabirds may think floating debris such as cigarette is shrimp or another source of food and eat it.
Plastic doesn't kill the animals quickly either its slow painful deaths for the animals most of the time. It can get caught in the animals' throats causing suffocation or prevent feeding, it also causes sea birds to become entangled in something causing them to either drown or slowly starve to death because they cannot get food or water, and it could also accumulate in the animals stomach eventually making it not want to eat which will cause it to starve to death. Plastic pollution can also facilitate the transportation of invasive species and disease (5).
Plastic impacts all living things and ecosystems on this planet. While it is essential to daily life, we need to find a more sustainable way to create it and dispose of it.
Gavin G.
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