If you are a wild animal watcher as I am, how many times do we see this? Containers or bags firmly stuck over the head of a wild animal which blinds them and which can only lead to their death by a lack of water and starvation (or predation) unless a kind person or group of guys as we see in this video step in and release the animal. This is obviously a particularly tricky operation when the animal is a very strong bear. And a very mad and angry bear because he or she doesn’t understand that the guys are trying to help her. But they wrestle with the bear and the container with persistence and bravery and eventually succeed. They then run like hell!
Cans, bins and plastic bags left lying around the wild landscape especially when those containers were designed to contain food, are going to create this kind of severe wild animal welfare problem
Is this kind of incident a reflection on human consumption combined with a carelessness as to how they discard their trash? It’s a combination of retail therapy plus the incredible amount of trash that humankind produces and have to get rid of somewhere. Some of it invariably ends up in the wrong place where it can endanger wildlife.
A study on the Scientific Reports website reports on growing human population and urbanisation which has led to a decrease in natural habitats and therefore an increase in human-wildlife conflicts. And the widespread occurrence of litter is a severe threat to global ecosystems, the scientists report.
They studied online found a total of 503 records around the world where trash had endangered wildlife. It covered 51 countries and 6 continents. They state that in most cases the animals were trapped in glass or plastic jars (32.4%), drink cans (16.5%), and steel cans (16.3%).
They found around 1050 dead individuals among the invertebrates. Among the vertebrates there were 44 carcasses out of 496 individuals of 98 different species. Mammals were the most common vertebrates at 78.5% then reptiles (15.3%), birds (1.2%), fish (1.0%) and amphibians (0.4%).
Almost 12.5% of the vertebrates were classified as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered according to the Red List. Most of the animals were small but large animals were also recorded.
At the time of the report, 2021, discarded food and beverage containers were the most common litter categories in the environment. They state that the “characteristic smell of putrefaction attracts many animals, which may suffer injury or get trapped when trying to extract food remains”.
Not only do these animals die because of a lack of water and food, they can become bait for predators who can kill them easily. A vast number of containers, they say, “constitute a lethal trap the animals”.
Below are some more articles about bears.
