Wildlife

Seabird Plastic Ingestion and Welfare

Seabirds including fulmars, shearwaters, and albatrosses ingest plastic debris that fills their stomachs, causing starvation and feeding plastic to chicks.

Key Facts

95% of fulmars examined in North Sea strandings contain plastic in their stomachs
Plastic fills the stomach reducing hunger signals while providing no nutrition
Adult birds feed plastic fragments to chicks as part of normal provisioning behaviour
Albatross chick mortality from plastic feeding is well documented on Midway Atoll
Microplastics from plastic breakdown are now found in fish and invertebrates throughout food chains

Welfare Considerations

Plastic ingestion causes chronic suffering through the sensation of satiety without nutrition, gastric injury from sharp fragments, and eventual starvation. Chicks fed plastic by parents suffer the same fate. Reducing plastic pollution prevents this welfare harm at source. Individual rehabilitation of affected birds is possible but treating wild populations requires systemic plastic reduction.

What You Can Do

Reduce single-use plastic consumption and choose reusable alternatives
Participate in beach and coastal clean-up events
Support extended producer responsibility for plastic packaging
Advocate for policy action on marine plastic pollution
Donate to seabird monitoring and rehabilitation organisations