These Heartbreaking Images Show How COVID Waste Is Hurting Animals
While on the one hand, the world is scrambling to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, on the other, there's the issue of single-use plastic. The problem of pollution is back with full force owing to PPE requirements. Masks, gloves and face shields becoming a regular in the 'new normal' has inadvertently added to pressure on the environment, in the form of increased plastic pollution. See how coronavirus-related plastic wastage is impacting marine and wildlife:
A seagull carries a protective face mask at the port of Dover in Britain.
Steve Shipley from Driffield, photographed the peregrine falcon on the North Yorkshire coast with a face mask.
According to the Facebook post, Shipley said: "The Peregrine is one of the most protected birds in the country this is one of the saddest things I have seen while I have been doing wildlife photography why can't people dispose of these masks properly they are supposed to protect us but obviously not wildlife, this young Peregrine thought it was food and could die if it eats it."
A dog pulls out a used PPE kit from the COVID Care centre at CODISSIA in Coimbatore, India.
Florida Miami beach environmental group finds a dead fish tangled in a disposable face mask.
A gull that had been tangled in a face mask rescued by animal rights groups in England.
Street dogs trying to eat discarded face masks on the roadside in Vijayawada. Vijayawada Municipal Corporation shared this photo on Twitter and urged people not to throw used face masks or gloves on roads.
Conservationists have warned that the coronavirus pandemic could spark a surge in ocean pollution. Soon, there will be more gloves and masks than jellyfish in the Mediterranean. The alarm was raised by Opération Mer Propre, a French ecologist organization.
The rise in disposable face masks, PPE kits, social distancing patches, and gloves being used to prevent the spread of coronavirus, is adding to the glut of plastic pollution.
Anuj Tiwari writes stories for SEO and is a Youtube wizard. An engineer turned social media champ, he keeps a track of all that goes around the world. His interest areas include historic events, political and social-sciences.