The problem of plastic pollution is in the front line now and it hurts so many animals, but what animal eat and consume this much more than seals? Seals and hoar seals are lovely animals of oceanic biotopes, mainly feeding on fish. Yet plastic pollution makes it nearly impossible for them to thrive and survive.
The ocean is polluted with plastic: seals suffer from it in numerous forms. So when people throw plastic into the ocean, it does not just simply go away. But over time, plastic may degrade into small pieces they could be eliminated microplastics. Seals can mistake these microplastics for food and this is particularly dangerous, as they are slow accumulative killers. If it ends up in the water, seals can swallow these little bits of plastic and that makes them ill - sometimes so ill they will die. Bigger bits of plastic can also lodge in their throats or stomachs, meaning they cannot breathe or eat properly. This is a potentially frightening proposition for seals who rely on swimming and hunting (in the case of grey seals) to eat.
Seals Are Fish LoversBut though fish and similar seafoods are the primary diet of seals, they eat other things in the ocean as well. If they see also something in the water that may seem like food to them and swallow it instead. Plastic is of course not edible and unfortunately the seals do not recognize that. They might mistake a plastic bag (which they love to eat) for a jellyfish and inadvertently swallow it. And they can also consume minute bits of plastic and mistake them for tiny fish. All of this can result in some pretty bad health problems as they are not able to process plastic the way that real food is.
That is difficult of course, and fishing nets are usually made out of plastic as well. In some cases these nets are lost or thrown away into the sea. The phenomenon of ghost nets, lost netting that poses a threat to seals. Seals often swim into these ghost nets and can get caught in them, causing injury. This can be absolutely terrifying for them as if they cannot surface to blow the rest of their cycle out, this will lead directly to suffocation. In addition, these ghost nets may catch other sea creatures such as dolphins and turtles by trapping them, which will further hurt ocean lives.
Seals suffer when they swallow plastic pollution – but there are other ways it can poison them too. It can also trap them and lead to physical damage. If a seal tries to eat plastic floating in the ocean, such as bags and trash or debris that have been tossed aside by humans (and there is lots of this around) it could get wrapped up. Sometimes this can lead to severe injuries ranging from cuts and scrapes all the way up to reducing their capability of swimming properly. These injuries may make it hard for a seal to feed or escape from predators, which can sometimes put their lives at risk.
Seals, wonderful animals that reside in the ocean are suffering a lot due to pollution caused by plastic. We can make little changes in our life accordingly to save seals such as reducing plastic use and ensuring its recycling properly. Recycling reduces the amount of plastic waste from going into our oceans. We can also promote the organizations, if any that work for clearing up the Ocean by picking plastics and other human waste from it or helps marine animals around world preserve their life.
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