Cynthia Vanderlip, manager of the State of Hawaii’s Kure Atoll Wildlife Sanctuary, cut open the dead body of a fledgling Laysan albatross (nicknamed “Shed Bird”) to find more than half a pound of plastic in its stomach.
Concentrated on the right are all the items retrieved from inside the bird: Plastic lighters, bottle caps, and other plastics that are carelessly tossed often wind up floating on the ocean surface, where they are occasionally consumed by foraging seabirds and other marine creatures.
- Link to full story on Tree Hugger
- The North Pacific Gyre (a.k.a. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch) [wiki]
- Interview on FurledSails.com with oceanographer Dr. Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who studies ocean currents using scientific instruments and flotsam lost from container ships.
[via BoingBoing]
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