Sometimes it’s difficult to escape wildlife in distress, even on a brief holiday. One of our very dedicated WILVOS, Lizzi, and partner, Jub, decided to have a brief holiday away from work and go camping.
A couple of days into a very relaxing break at the beach and they discovered a marine turtle in a very bad way. The only way to carry this big beautiful creature was in the back of the ute, on the camp mattress. Where is that waterproof canvas when you need it? I don’t think that mattress will be going on any more camping trips!
It was a long trip to the Australian Wildlife Hospital and the news was not good. This majestic creature was a victim of the ubiquitous plastic bags that are strewn around our waterways. The needless death of one of these ‘dinosaurs of the sea’ is heart-breaking.
Plastic bags are lethal to many of our wildlife, but especially so to our turtles. It takes a turtle so long to reach this size and so long before they are old enough to breed, and all this is cut short because of careless discarding of rubbish. Holiday time brings even more plastic bags, bait bags, fishing hooks and loose lengths of fishing line. Humans really need to take a look at the rubbish they create each day.
No lessons ever seem to be learnt from our mistakes. The plastic rings around bottles and jars are often found encircling the mouth, jaw or beak of our wildlife. They are often discovered too late. Always remember to just snip the plastic ring on bottles and jars with a scissors so it won’t mean starvation and a slow death to some native animal at a later date as the container proceeds through the rubbish disposal process.. Maybe one day manufacturers will listen and change their ways.
Meanwhile, as you are enjoying your time out and about, whether on land or water, always pick up litter and your efforts will make a difference. If it saves one animal, that is a blessing.
Donna Brennan Wildlife Volunteers Assoc Inc (WILVOS) PO Box 4805 Sunshine Coast Mail Centre Q 4560 PH 5441 6200 www.wilvos.org.au