Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Think Green Thursday


On Thursdays here in Blogland, we start Thinking Green, and Michelle hosts our meme for us.

Today my post will be short and sweet. I just want to remind everyone who finds themselves on the shore or a pier, sailing or in a fishing boat, do NOT be tempted to dispose of even the smallest piece of trash - not even a bottle cap or a cigarette - by tossing it into the water. Sea birds and other animals will injest it, and it can be fatal to them.


This is a photo of Makana. She is an albatross who lives at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. "Makana" means "gift" in Hawaiian, and the staff does consider her a gift. She was found injured, and could not be returned to the wild, so she is a permanent resident of the aquarium. She is one of the lucky ones. Her photo and the one following are from the Sea Notes blog.


This second photo is of a plastic tube containing all the contents of the stomach of just one albatross, found dead. I believe that is enough said.

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Meantime, if you'd like to view a great video on the great white shark (a desperately endangered species), as it appeared on TV, visit this link to the Monterey Bay Aquarium blog, Sea Notes, and read their post of November 23rd, titled White Peacock.

9 comments:

Dianne said...

great post Bobbie
litter causes so much harm

Lisa (Mountain Photog) said...

Great reminder, Bobbie! Here a few more examples of poor critters who had run-ins with our trash:

Sea Turtle

Sea Lion

Duck

Misc

Breaks your heart, doesn't it?? :(

Crayons said...

Good post, Bobbie. It seems to go beyond the near-the-water thought. It seems like people believe that when they throw something away, it just disappears. That image of the contents of an albatross is upsetting.

dianasfaria.com said...

It's very hard for me to understand how people can throw their trash anywhere other than into a garbage can. I've ended many a beach trip spending time picking up other people's litter. It really bothers me.
Thanks for this post Bobbie.

Kay said...

Excellent reminder, Bobbie. I've seen some trash on our shoreline and it's so irritating. You can only pick up for other people so much.

Deborah Godin said...

Great post! It's heartbreaking to think of these animals and birds starving to death with bellies full of plastic bits!

Daryl said...

Its so sad that people toss stuff out w/o any thought to what or who it will harm .. excellent post!

Anonymous said...

Another great post Bobbie..I saw a program of tagging great whites on NATGEO. It was really interesting. Fishing line is a huge problem for ocean species and birds...Michelle

Kathie Brown said...

Bobbie, when ever I see trash blowing around in the desrt or on the beach I pick it up. I cannot stand the thought of some bird ingesting it! That picture of the bottle with the bird's stomach contents is shocking!