On Monday, Rockhampton Zoo in Queensland, Australia shared a video of a poor large crocodile coughing up plastic bottles.
According to the post, the large salt water animal named "The Colonel" was spotted choking in panic. A few minutes later, two plastic drinking bottles came out his throat.
"It was distressing to see the Colonel going through this as a result of a small minority who don't do the right thing," the post said.
Apparently, the plastic bottles were thrown by the people visiting his enclosure.
Plastic pollution is blatant wherever we go. From land to the ocean, the consequence of plastic consumption is visible.
A study conducted in 2015 revealed that 4.8 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the oceans from land each year, and that figure may be as high as 12.7 million metric tons. In 2025, it's estimated that the number will double.
Plastic pollution, with its microscopic particles, is not only a threat to the marine environment but to the whole earth's population as well.
When plastics are thrown to the ocean, the harmful chemicals involved in manufacturing them will leech into the water and it could end up inside the stomach of fish that humans eat; thereby exposing both the fishes and humans to the toxic chemicals.
In addition, plastic bottles can be downright deadly to animals, who accidentally swallow them as they can cause internal bleeding and lacerations.
Early this June, it was revealed through series of necropsies that the 13 whales that washed up on the German shore in January died because of intestinal blockage. Some of the wastes found in their stomachs are plastic bottles, car engine parts and even a fishing net that was almost 50 feet long.
One Green Planet notes that it is estimated that ingestion of plastic kills one million marine birds and 100,000 marine animals each year.