Implications on Animals and Their Habitat
Animals and their habitat are suffering every single day from plastic bags being littered. Implications on wildlife and their habitat is one of the main problems for both wildlife in the marine environment and on land. Tens of thousands of whales, birds, seals and turtles etc are killed every year from plastic bags being littered in the marine environment as they often mistake plastic bags for food such as Jellyfish. Plastic bags, once eaten, cannot be digested or taken away from the animals stomach so it stays there. Plastic in an animal’s stomach can prevent food digestion and can lead to a very slow and painful death. As plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to break down, once an animal dies, the plastic is then spread back into the marine environment to carry on killing other wildlife.
If whales swallow and digest plastic or plastic bags then they can go into severe distress, pain and even death. If the whale has died it will let out the chemicals that a plastic bag has been made from into the ocean to then cause the death of a large amount of other marine wildlife.
Plastic bags don't just kill animals by swallowing them but they can kill them if they are wrapped around the body of an animal which will lead to it cutting its skin or if it is a bird causing it to not be able to fly and make it die of starvation.
In some situations when farm animals are harmed by plastic bags it effects the farmer who will then lose money. For example, discovered in agony, a calf that was recently put down in Mudgee, NSW, was found to have eaten 8 plastic bags. The loss of this calf cost the farmer around $500.
If whales swallow and digest plastic or plastic bags then they can go into severe distress, pain and even death. If the whale has died it will let out the chemicals that a plastic bag has been made from into the ocean to then cause the death of a large amount of other marine wildlife.
Plastic bags don't just kill animals by swallowing them but they can kill them if they are wrapped around the body of an animal which will lead to it cutting its skin or if it is a bird causing it to not be able to fly and make it die of starvation.
In some situations when farm animals are harmed by plastic bags it effects the farmer who will then lose money. For example, discovered in agony, a calf that was recently put down in Mudgee, NSW, was found to have eaten 8 plastic bags. The loss of this calf cost the farmer around $500.
