Albatrosses and their chicks suffer significant welfare harm from plastic ingestion, with parent birds mistaking plastic for food and feeding it to chicks whose stomachs fill with non-nutritive material.
Plastic ingestion causes measurable suffering and death in albatross chicks that is directly attributable to human plastic production and disposal. Chicks fed plastic by well-intentioned parents develop distended stomachs filled with bottle caps, lighters, and other debris that provide zero nutrition while occupying stomach space needed for actual food. Affected chicks decline slowly over weeks as they receive insufficient nutrition despite appearing to have full stomachs. This is a form of welfare harm that is both preventable and entirely human-caused. Adult albatrosses that ingest plastic themselves may experience reduced digestive function and toxin exposure from chemicals in plastic, with less acute but still meaningful welfare consequences.