Marine plastic pollution causes widespread suffering in seabirds through ingestion, entanglement and exposure of chicks to plastic-fed by parents, with albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters among the most severely affected species.
Seabird plastic ingestion causes suffering across the full spectrum of severity — from acute internal injury caused by sharp fragments to chronic malnutrition from plastic-induced false satiety. Chicks fed plastic by unwitting parents starve because their stomachs fill with indigestible material rather than nutritious prey. Adults accumulate toxic persistent organic pollutants that leach from plastic into body tissues, affecting reproduction and immune function. The welfare dimension of plastic pollution is largely invisible — individual birds suffering far offshore from the human activities that produced the plastic. Plastic reduction at source, improved waste management and cleanup of high-density pollution areas represent the most direct paths to reducing this widespread and preventable suffering.