The Plastic menace, again

Linkhttp://wdin.blogspot.com/

Have you heard of the North Pacific Garbage Patch? It is where circulating currents meet in that ocean. According to Australian Seabird Rescue spokesman Keith Williams it is also covered in a mass of garbage the size of Texas!
I found this reportabout a horror story that highlights the world’s plastic menace through the Wildlife Disease News Digest blog that I tap into regularly at
To summarize and quote

“an albatross chick has been found dead with 272 pieces of plastic in its gut. The haul included a cigarette lighter, nine bottle tops, 10 lids, a lollipop stick, twine, fishing line, a fork and a toy wheel.
It was found at Dunedin, New Zealand, but Australian wildlife carers said the 250g load was no surprise.”

This picture that I got from the report tells it all.

The report mentions New Zealand, but does not actually state that the bird was a Royal Albatross, which it almost certainly was. These amazing birds breed at Taiaroa Head on New Zealand’s Otago peninsula. The place is well worth a visit, one we have made a couple of times. You can find out more about it hereand see the images that I have lifted from their site.


To quote from the web page about the colony

“The sight of a soaring albatross is unforgettable - held aloft on slim wings up to 3 metres (9'6") across, the great Albatross is capable of swooping speeds of more than 115kph. Viewing these majestic seabirds in their natural environment is not to be missed.”

As Taiaroa Head is the only place in the southern hemisphere where albatrosses – of any species – have a mainland breeding site it is also just about the best place to see them.

There’s an added benefit, at least for those who enjoy a moderate dose of hedonism. You cannot drive to the colony site without going past the 1908 Café, and that in itself is worth a visit. Here is the picture from their web advert. Cream teas, delicious scones and real tea made properly. Yeah!

Lion Rabies and Plastic Kills Elephants

Those who subscribe The Wildlife Disease News Digest Listserv (wdin@usgs.gov) will be aware of the very unusual occurrence of rabies that has been diagnosed in an entire pride of lions in the Khutse Game Reserve in Botswana. This isolated park lies right in the middle of the country, and I had never even heard of it until the posting appeared in my “in” box. No worries. With the help of the ever-useful Google I found not only a fascinating description of this remote and very basic reserve, but a map (at this URL ) showing all the reserves and National Parks. Khutse is not named, but I’m guessing that it is the large green area in the middle of the map.

Dr Clay Wilson, a private veterinarian, diagnosed the disease and commented, in the article you can find under today’s date posted here

“that the lions could have acquired the disease from jackals”

. The full article is available here This is probably the most common way in which this deadly disease is transmitted in Africa, so he is probably correct.As the jackal strain of the rabies virus can be identified with DNA techniques it will be interesting to follow this case.

A footnote to the article has wider implications and highlights yet again the dangers of plastic waste, the plague of so much of our world in every corner.

“Meanwhile three elephants in Chobe National Park died after eating trash from the Chobe landfill.”

A senior Wildlife Biologist, Mr Keagapetse Mosugelo said the elephants died as a result of plastics they ate in the landfill.

"The situation at the landfill is not good for animals,"

he said, adding that the electric fence that has been installed is not sufficient as birds will still flying in to eat waste.

Chobe, which is a fascinating park that lies right in the north of Botswana, is one of the areas on the continent where elephants have created their own min-deserts as they are so abundant that have almost eaten themselves out of house and home.
When we visited Chobe ten years ago there were tracts of nothing but sand and elephants had to trek many miles every day between food sources and the Chobe river (which flows into the Zambezi) where I took this picture.

For readers of mystery novels, I would recommend Anthony Bidulka’s Sundowner Ubuntu: A Russell Quant Mystery which is set in Africa, and in which Chobe plays a vital role. Tony, whose web site is here visited Botswana as part of his “research” for the novel (tough research eh!) and was obviously hard bitten, but luckily not by a jackal.