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#1
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07-01-2011, 07:47 AM
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 My Rank: MAJOR Poster Rank:12 Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 93,062
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Giant Turtle Found Dead-Swallowed 300 Bits of Plastic
A GIANT sea turtle has been found dead after swallowing more than 300 bits of PLASTIC. The helpless creature starved to death because its guts were clogged with debris including bags, lids, tape and fishing line. The 317 separate pieces of rubbish found inside it by horrified experts were enough to cover an entire table top. Scientists say the incident is one of the worst cases of pollution in open water ever recorded.  The turtle was found dead on a beach at Ballina, New South Wales, on the eastern coast of Australia. Marine biologist Rochelle Ferris said: "It just shows how much plastic there is out there in the ocean. The turtle's digestive system just shut down." Recent studies show a third of all sea turtles are being slowly poisoned by marine litter, with at least 50 cases reported in Australia alone every year. Choked ... debris found in turtle's guts covered table top:  The turtle was found dead on a beach at Ballina, New South Wales, on the eastern coast of Australia. Marine biologist Rochelle Ferris said: "It just shows how much plastic there is out there in the ocean. The turtle's digestive system just shut down." Recent studies show a third of all sea turtles are being slowly poisoned by marine litter, with at least 50 cases reported in Australia alone every year. Sad demise ... marine biologist Rochelle Ferris with the turtle:  A plastic bag can look like a squid to a hungry turtle while a piece of white lid may appear to be a shellfish. Sea turtle populations around the world are also increasingly in danger from pollution, illegal fishing and becoming tangled in nets. Shocking ... close-up of some of the pieces of plastic rubbish found inside the turtle:  |
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#2
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07-01-2011, 07:48 AM
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| My Rank: MAJOR Poster Rank:12 Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 93,062
Contributions: 239
93,062Posts 137,786Thanked 2,009Quoted 91Mentioned 239Contrib. |
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Re: Giant Turtle Found Dead-Swallowed 300 Bits of Plastic
Wonder how many more turtles and other animals have died due to our carelessness and stupidity  |
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#3
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07-01-2011, 07:51 AM
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 My Rank: STAFF SERGEANT Poster Rank:735 Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 1,130 1,130Posts 633Thanked 21Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
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Re: Giant Turtle Found Dead-Swallowed 300 Bits of Plastic
:( even after we've all been wiped off the face of this earth, we will still continue to destroy it... |
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#4
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07-01-2011, 08:19 AM
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 ★ ********* ★ Poster Rank:251 Male Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 5,547
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Re: Giant Turtle Found Dead-Swallowed 300 Bits of Plastic
Einstein was right: Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. We know that we are killing our planet but we keep the same behavior: the truth is that we don't deserve this planet, everyday we condemn sea/wild life to death, though WE would deserve be the first ones to die because of the shit that we waste. According to U.N.e.p. (UN agency for the environment) there are more than 100 000 deaths per year of fish, turtles and other marine animals like dolphins, whales, seals because of plastic waste in the sea. Plus the birds: according to some rough calculation there are 1,000,000 of deaths per year of birds, because of plastic shit. Plastic bags are mistaken for jellyfish or algae, then ingested. Other plastic items are broken into small pieces that inevitably end up in the digestive system. Seabirds mistake the pieces of plastic for fish, eat them and use them to feed their babies, which results in perforations, suffocation, ulcers, damage to the digestive tract, contamination with nice stuff like mercury and arsenic. The documented deaths cause by plastic involved (so far) 77 species (at least): 6 species of turtles, 12 of mammals, 34 species of seabirds, 6 of seals, 10 of sharks.  Here you can read a detailed report LINK |
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#5
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07-01-2011, 02:32 PM
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 ★ Legacy Member ★ Poster Rank:934 Female Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 786 786Posts 887Thanked 11Quoted 0Mentioned 0Contrib. |
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Re: Giant Turtle Found Dead-Swallowed 300 Bits of Plastic
Death of Planet. Cause: Humans How sad that we have such a beautiful place but continue to trash it. |
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#6
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07-01-2011, 06:58 PM
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 ★ Legacy Member ★ Poster Rank:7 What we've got here is failure to communicate. Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 103,541
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103,541Posts 83,564Thanked 43,400Quoted 112Mentioned 3Contrib. |
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Re: Giant Turtle Found Dead-Swallowed 300 Bits of Plastic
I read about this today, just goes to show what parasites we really are.
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