Stag dies after being found wrapped in plastic
● Island united in anger over slow lingering death of trapped animal
A stag has died after being found on a Scottish island bound in a mass of discarded plastic strapping.
The distressed animal was discovered on a hillside on the west coast of Jura, in the Inner Hebrides.
It is thought he had been grazing on seaweed by the shore when the plastic banding caught on his antlers.
He then walked on to the hillside, where he had been starving for the last week as the plastic was wrapped around his mouth.
The animal was discovered by gamekeeper Scott Muir who said the stag later had to be put down.
Mr Muir, 32, who has lived on the island – with a population of just 230 – all his life, said plastic pollution on the coast has worsened in the past five years.
He said: “I was walking over the estate when I saw the plastic waste and realised there was a stag caught.
“I thought it was dead at first but as I approached it I could see his head start to move.
“These can be 18st animals and I know how powerful they can be, but he looked tired and stressed and he couldn’t see because the plastic was right around his antlers.
“He wouldn’t have been able to graze as it was right over his mouth, so he was effectively starving. It looks like he has then walked about a mile up on to the hillside; no mean feat considering it was tangled around his back leg as well as round his antlers.”
Mr Muir, who is also a volunteer with Wild Side of Jura, a group aiming to protect the west coast, said the plastic banding is used in conjunction with fishing.
He said: “We are a group of five or six volunteers who came together to protect the west coast of Jura and raise awareness of a fish farm which is trying to be built here.
“The plastic pollution is getting worse. We have seen an increase in plastic waste on the west coast in the last five, six years. The plastic on the stag is not fishing net but plastic banding which is used in conjunction with fishing.
“We can’t categorically say where it came from but I’d be willing to bet some sort of commercial fishing.”
Angy locals took to social media to voice their outrage.
One said: “That’s shocking, poor animal, the thought of him struggling with that for hours makes me so angry.
“So much plastic out there, it makes it much more of a reality when you see the damage it does so close to home.”
Another said: “Whoever threw that, and more, overboard obviously do not care about the consequences of their actions.
“Out of sight, out of mind. What a terrible plight for an innocent creature.”