1200 MILES AWAY FROM CIVILIZATION BIRDS DIE FROM EATING MAN-MADE PLASTIC
Midway Island is more than 2,400 miles away from a large land mass (Alaska) and more than 1,000 miles away from a city (Honolulu). It seems that if any place would be safe from the environmental affects of humanity, this would be it!
And yet, due to the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Midway is mired in plastic trash. The main occupant of Midway Island is the majestic Albatross, a Sea Bird with a wingspan of over 7 feet. The albatross spends most of its time flying over the ocean in search of food. Unfortunately, the birds quite often mistake plastic in the ocean for food. A pair of albatrosses will only lay one egg each year.
Currently over 40% of the babies hatched out on Midway Island are fed enough plastic that they die a very slow and painful death as the plastics poison their system and cause dehydration and starvation. According to wildlife biologist John Klavitter, Albatrosses are feeding their babies more than 5 tons of plastic on Midway Island each year!
If you were to visit Midway Island, you would find hundreds of carcasses that were once beautiful baby albatrosses – now nothing left but feathers, bone and plastic!