When whales are washed up on a beach and die, vets and researchers check out the cause of their death. Sometimes the cause of death is the ingestion of large amounts of plastic, blocking their digestive system. Plastic bags, balloons and sweet wrappers are some of the litter items that marine animals confuse as food.
Other animals at risk are:
- 56 species of Australian seabirds confuse some plastics with fish eggs.
- Turtles confuse floating plastic bags with the jellyfish they eat.
- Some sharks have been found to have stomachs packed with all kinds of litter.
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