December 31, 2015

We're filling our oceans with trash

In December of 2015, a dead Orca (killer whale) washed up on shore on a beach on Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. 

Dead Orca in South Africa
The Orca was a female, 18 feet in length. She had been spotted earlier in the month in the Bay and had been floundering. Rescuers had managed to get her back out to sea at that time. However, the Orca soon died and washed back on shore. 

An autopsy was performed on the dead animal and her stomach was found to have a lot of trash inside of it - including part of an old shoe, plastic yogurt containers and plastic bags.

It is believed that this rubbish filled up the stomach, could not be digested and blocked the intake of the animal's natural food which is seals, dolphins, squid and fish. The animal's stomach lining was also deteriorating.

Therefore this animal slowly starved to death.

Scientists estimate that one million birds and 100,000 sea mammals and turtles die
every year after becoming entangled in plastic lines and nets or after mistakenly eating a chunk of plastic thinking it was food. 

An "island" of garbage in the Pacific Ocean
Scientists report that there are about 270,000 tons of plastic floating on the surface of the oceans and some 4 billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer in the deep seas.

The chemicals in these plastics and particles are leeching into the water and no one knows how this will ultimately affect the food chain. 

Pray that everyone, world-wide, becomes aware of the dangers of polluting our seas. We have to wake up. 

These waters are the lifeblood of our planet. 

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