Obstruction and starvation associated with plastic ingestion in a Northern Gannet Morus bassanus and a Greater Shearwater Puffinus gravis

Plastic ingestion by seabirds is well documented (see Laist 1997for a list of species with ingestion records). However, casesdefinitively attributing seabird mortality to ingestion of plastic arerare. Seabirds that die from ingestion often suffer obstruction of thegastrointestinal tract. Ultimately, the birds die of starvation andoften quickly sink in the ocean’s waters or are scavenged (van Pelt& Piatt 1995, Wiese 2003).

PIERCE, K.E., HARRIS, R.J., LARNED, L.S. & POKRAS, M.A., Marine Ornithology 32: 187-189