Seabirds are among the wildlife most severely affected by ocean plastic pollution, with millions dying annually from ingesting plastic debris that blocks digestive systems or delivers toxic chemical loads.
Plastic ingestion causes prolonged suffering. Birds that ingest large pieces experience physical obstruction — unable to digest food while the material remains lodged — and the sensation of fullness suppresses foraging even as the bird starves. Smaller particles deliver chemical toxins over time, disrupting hormones critical to reproduction and immune function. Parent birds regurgitating plastic-laden boluses to chicks pass the problem across generations. The welfare dimension of plastic pollution is often framed as a conservation issue, but the individual-level suffering — painful obstruction, starvation, chemical toxicity — affects every individual bird involved, not just population statistics.