Day 2 of our Real Nappy Week challenge was focused on animals, and the winner was @mrs_schofield (you can click here to view the winning post!)
I have always loved animals; my dream is to own a bit of land in Scotland or Northumberland where I can build my own little family home and keep animals – the regular pets, you know, dogs, cats, rabbits etc, but also other animals, farm animals, cows, horses, goats, chickens etc. In the big dream, my animals would be rescue animals, animals that need help and I can provide that for them, with lots of love and affection. So, this is a hard topic to write about as it means I’ve had to go through all of the animal posts from the challenge as well as do a bit of deeper research into how our carelessness as humans is affecting the animals we share this planet with.
As with water, I’m going to avoid talking too much about marine life as it is one of the later topics. For this post, I will focus in on terrestrial animals. We know that plastic pollution has transformed once idyllic oceans into a plastic soup and it’s injuring and killing fish, mammals and sea birds, but what about the plastic and waste that isn’t dumped in or washed out to sea? Entanglement, choking, and ingestion, poisoning and starvation are obvious threats to sea life, but they are issues that take the lives of many land animals as well.
Let’s start off with one of many ways our rubbish is harming wildlife directly, physically…
Below is a little slideshow of photos that for lots of people would give them a laugh. These situations aren’t funny in the slightest.
A young coyote got her head trapped in a plastic jug, she was stuck for at least 10 days before being rescued. Search and rescue teams tried to catch her after 10 DAYS. Who knows how long she was stuck before first being spotted?! At one point, she was seen submerging her trapped head into a stream in an attempt to get some water inside the jar to drink. By the time she was caught, she weighed 15 pounds and was extremely dehydrated. Hilarious? Not at all. It took a month of rehabilitation before she was able to be released back into the wild, weighing 21 pounds.
A skunk with the lid of a slushy drink around his neck. He had clearly been drawn to the sugary drink left inside a cup that had been thrown about without a thought for what would happen once you walked away. Thankfully, rescuers were able to throw a blanket over him, remove the lid and set him free.
One photo is over a young buck who had gotten his head stuck in a glass globe light in New Jersey. People thought it was oh-so-funny and nicknamed him Buzz LightDeer.
Want to hear something else funny? His family shunned him and abandoned him because they couldn’t recognise him behind the glass… Hahaha- oh, what? That’s not funny? Of course not!!
These situations are not funny for the poor animals involved. Luckily the animals photoed were rescued, but that isn’t always the case, so many animals don’t get their happy endings. An animals with it’s head stuck in food containers die from suffocation, starvation, dehydration, overheating, and from being preyed upon – an animal with it’s head stuck inside a jar is not going to be able to defend itself.
Another way we are risking the lives of our wildlife is exactly what is killing marine life too. Plastic is not edible, it doesn’t belong in our bellies, nor the bellies of any other living thing, but unfortunately, a lot of animals mistake plastic for food or accidentaly ingest plastic while eating leftover food still inside the plastic. Either way, it’s being eaten, and it is causing a lot of problems. Whether it gets stuck in their throats, blocks their intestines, or actually makes it into the animal’s stomach, causing them to feel full so they don’t eat any actual food so they eventually starve, it’s killing them. It’s a fate that has taken so many lives of both wild and domestic animals.
Another common problem is animals getting their legs caught and wrapped in plastic waste – not only is it uncomfortable, but it’s simply dangerous. An animal caught up in plastic can’t run away from predators, cars or other dangers, they can’t navigate their way to food or water, and a lot of animals, even when rescued, end up with sever injuries or even lose limbs as a result of the plastic slicing their way into their bodies.
Indirectly, our rubbish is causing harm to animals, by polluting their habitats, the soil, water and food sources. Habitat loss is contributing to the extinction of whole species, it’s weakening ecosystems, and is impacting the overall health and quality of life.
When you dump your rubbish, it interacts with water in the ground and forms hazardous chemicals which seep underground and degrade the quality of the Earth and water. Animals drink this water and the toxic chemicals are being ingested, and annoyingly there isn’t very much research into the effects of this on wildlife. It also means that plant life is soaking up the toxins, which again leads to wildlife ingesting them when they eat.
There are so many ways in which our dependency on plastic is harming every living thing, both in the sea AND ON LAND. We all know how much harm plastic is doing to the Ocean, but we need to remember that it’s also harming terrestrial animals!
There are lots of ways that you can help – and you’ll find, as the week goes on, that a lot of these ways you’re helping with issues facing our water, will also help a number of other problems the Earth is facing. So, here are a few:
- Reduce your use of single-use plastics
◦ stainless steel or bamboo alternatives are available for cups, mugs, straws, utensils, tablewear, lunchboxes, toothbrushes, combs etc
◦ cloth alternatives are available for bags, nappies, wipes, liners, and sanitary pads (or you could use a cup!)
◦ beeswax wrap alternative for clingfilm
◦ cook instead of buying takeaway
◦ buy sustainable, eco-friendly wooden toys
◦ buy secondhand
◦ make your own health & beauty products such as shampoo bars, tooth powders, deodorant - Recycle
- And, arguably the most important step… SPREAD THE WORD! Show people this information, show them the statistics, show them how easy it is to make changes! Encourage them to spread the word!
Mama Wolverine 