[Animals] The bloody turtle video that sparked a plastic straw revolution

[Wolf.17]

Bloody and in pain, when a plastic straw became lodged in the nostril of a turtle, a video showing its removal shook the world – sparking a movement to rid the world of plastic straws.

In 2015, PhD student Christine Figgener was on a small fishing boat off Costa Rica's Pacific Coast examining an olive ridley turtle – when she noticed something strange coming out of its nostril. Curious, she started filming as one of her research colleagues began to investigate the object. At just over eight minutes long, the video documents the uncomfortable process during which they extract a plastic straw, while blood drips from the turtle's nose.

As a marine biologist, Figgener's focus was turtles, not plastics. However, plastic had always been an issue she encountered on the field, having witnessed turtles and other animals stuck in car tires, fishing nets or plastic bags.

"I wasn't an activist, but we scientists can't stay in our ivory tower. We see and document things that need to be communicated more broadly. It's not just about understanding, it's about getting people to care, and explaining what we can actually do," says Figgener. "Just looking at tonnes of plastic floating in the ocean can be a bit abstract, it's not the same as feeling the pain of another creature. It carried the message to non-scientists, showing what the statistics about plastic actually mean."

The anti-plastic-straw movement caught the world's attention after Figgener's video went viral. So, just how bad are single-use straws for the environment? Watch the

Years before the video surfaced, Jackie Nuñez had been picking up plastic straws just like the one extracted from the turtle. She regularly volunteered in beach cleanups in Santa Cruz, along California's coast and it opened her eyes to the scale of plastic pollution in the ocean. Not too far away, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, a federally protected area, has a series of regulations to protect its diverse environment and rich biodiversity. One of the activities prohibited within the area is "injuring or disturbing marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles". Although this is explicitly stated, the sanctuary can't control the fact that plastic waste does end up in the ocean, posing a severe threat to our ecosystems.

Plastics are known to hurt wildlife in different ways, including entanglement or ingestion, as several species confuse them for food. A new study found hundreds of plastic items in the guts of dead sea turtles in the Mediterranean, where more than 40% of turtles studied contained macroplastics – pieces larger than 5mm – including bottle tops and toys. According to the World Wildlife Fund, one in two marine turtles have eaten plastic – and many starve as their stomachs fill with plastic. The United Nations Environment Programme states that more than 8bn kg (7,874 tonnes) of plastic enter the oceans every year.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240402-the-turtle-video-that-sparked-a-plastic-straw-revolution