A baby green sea turtle rescued from Tamarama beach had eaten so much plastic that it took six days for the contents to be excreted, according to Taronga zoo’s wildlife hospital. When the 127-gram hatchling was found, it was missing one of its four flippers, had a chip in another, and had a hole in its shell.
Carers said that aside from these injuries, the turtle appeared to be in good physical condition and had no trouble swimming. “But then it started to defecate, and it defecated plastic for six days. No faeces came out, just pure plastic,” the Taronga veterinary nurse Sarah Male said. “It was all different sizes, colours and compositions. Some were hard, some were sharp, and with some, you could tell the plastic had writing on it. This is all some of these poor little things are eating. There’s so much plastic around they’re just consuming it as their first initial food,” she said. Despite progress, it could be a whole year before he is released back into the wild and coastal waters. #northernbeachescleanupcrew #nbcuc #turtle #plastic #litter #rubbish Comments are closed.
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