Wildlife

Wildlife and Plastic Pollution: Individual Welfare Impacts

Plastic pollution causes welfare harm to individual wild animals through entanglement, ingestion, and chemical contamination across terrestrial and aquatic environments.

Key Facts

An estimated 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die from plastic annually
Microplastics are now found in the bodies of animals from deep ocean fish to Arctic polar bears
Entanglement in plastic packaging and fishing gear causes slow death from starvation and injury
Ingested plastic reduces appetite and causes intestinal blockage in affected animals
Chemical additives leaching from plastic disrupt hormonal systems in wildlife

Welfare Considerations

Wildlife entangled in plastic rings, packaging, and discarded fishing gear suffers from restricted movement, injuries, and eventual starvation or drowning. Animals that ingest plastic feel satiated without nutritional benefit, leading to progressive starvation. The welfare harm of plastic pollution is distributed across billions of individual animals. Reducing plastic at source and removing plastic from the environment directly reduces individual animal suffering.

What You Can Do

Cut plastic rings and packaging before disposal to prevent entanglement
Participate in beach, river, and coastal clean-up events
Support extended producer responsibility legislation for plastic packaging
Reduce single-use plastic consumption especially items that commonly enter natural environments
Donate to organisations removing plastic from marine and terrestrial environments