A travel content creator made a distressing discovery while waking in a wildlife habitat. Rather than keep it to himself, he has decided to share it with the world. He hopes that by sharing this unfortunate finding, he can raise awareness and stop it from happening again.
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What Was This Man’s Distressing Discovery?
Yahoo News shared the story of travel content creator Murphy Ng. Ng was walking along a trail in a wildlife park when he noticed something he did not like. There were several piles of elephant dung along the park, but the feces were not the issue. Instead, it was what was inside of them.
“At first I thought it was just a small candy wrapper,” Ng admitted. Then, he continued, “but when I pulled it out, it turned out to be an entire plastic bag, completely intact.” The plastic in the poop proved that these animals were being exposed to and ingesting plastic, an issue that Ng thought was worth mentioning. Therefore, he shared the experience on Facebook.
In this post, he took the time to remind people of the dangers of plastic and encouraged them to be mindful of how they dispose of their waste.
Why Is Plastic So Harmful?
While some may not think that finding plastic in a wildlife park is a distressing discovery, it is. Plastic can be very harmful to wildlife, especially when ingested. Environment America reported on some of its findings on how plastics affect marine life. Specifically, they shared that “all kinds of plastic waste kill over 1 million marine animals every year.” However, the harm is not isolated to marine animals.
Land mammals can also suffer from improper waste disposal. Ingesting plastic can lead to internal blockages in the animal. Also, it can lead to things like starvation, organ damage, and toxic chemical exposure. All of these things affect the animals’ reproduction, growth, and survival rates, which in turn affect the entire ecosystem.
Furthermore, plastics and microplastics contribute to extreme weather events and assist in the rapid warming of our planet. So yes, finding a plastic bag inside elephant dung at a wildlife habitat is distressing. It shows that even in the places where animals should be protected the most, human interference is still causing harm.
