Slow death of baby seal, ‘killed by scrap of plastic the size of a sweet wrapper’
THE death of a baby seal found washed up on the coast could have been caused by a small chunk of plastic found lodged in its stomach.
The body of the pup, thought to be less than a year old, was found on rocks at Waternish, Skye, last Thursday.
Tests revealed the small piece of plastic – around the size of a sweet wrapper – was blocking the mammal’s digestive tract.
Analysis of the remains was carried out by the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme (SMASS) on Tuesday.
Two in three water samples from Scotland’s beaches contain traces of plastic, according to a study earlier this year.
SMASS posted pictures of the seal and the recovered plastic on its Facebook page on Wednesday.
The post said: ‘We necropsied [performed an autopsy on] an unusual case – a juvenile harp seal found dead on Skye with a fragment of plastic in its stomach.
‘Scotland is outside the normal range for this ice-associated species, although “vagrant” animals have been seen this far south before.’
The pup was ‘dehydrated and emaciated’ and SMASS experts concluded it had not fed recently.
The post added: ‘There was a small piece of compacted plastic, roughly 6cm square, lodged.’
‘Mild ulceration’ suggested the scrap had been stuck for some time, blocking digestion.
SMASS wrote: ‘The upper part of the gut was also abnormal – haemorrhagic [bleeding], suggesting a degree of enteritis [inflammation]. This could be linked to the obstruction caused by the plastic.’
The Daily Mail has been leading the push to end the scourge of plastic pollution through our Turn the Tide on Plastic campaign.
Animal lovers urged the Scottish Government to do more to tackle the problem in responses to the post by SMASS. Maxine Chavner wrote: ‘Sad, sad, sad and so avoidable. It is such a simple thing to stop, yet Government’s recalcitrance, based one suspects on pressure from the petrochemical industry, is astounding.’
Linda Vasquez posted: ‘Poor baby. Never had a chance.’
Elaine Whitelaw said: ‘Such a waste because of our waste.’
A post on the Facebook page of community group Skye Marine Matters said: ‘Seeing the plastic lodged in the stomach was yet another reminder of the impact of pollution in the marine environment.
‘Death due to plastic ingestion appears thankfully incredibly rare in cetaceans and seals.
‘But in this case it is plausible that this hungry pup mistook this small bit of plastic for food. Once in the stomach, it would not be broken down and became partially lodged in the narrow opening into the intestine.
‘A healthy, fit pup would probably have been able to safely ingest a fragment of plastic this size, but in an already compromised animal it could have been influen- tial in its death. This case again highlights the problem of marine debris floating in our oceans.
‘For a weakened seal pup such as this, even plastic the size of a sweet wrapper is potentially fatal.’
The discovery of the pup comes after concerns about pollution in Scotland were raised in March by environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
Researchers took 49 samples from waters around islands including Rum, Mull and Tiree – as well as Loch Alsh, Loch Linnhe, Loch Ness and the Firth of Forth – to be analysed for plastic pollution.
Of those, 31 were found to contain easy-to-swallow microplastics – including particles from adhesives and polystyrene packaging.
The Scottish Government announced plans in January to ban the sale and manufacture of plastic-stemmed cotton buds, to help stem the number clogging our oceans and washing up on beaches after being flushed down toilets.
‘Poor pup never had a chance’