Baby Turtle Dies After Consuming 104 Pieces of Microplastic

A Facebook photo of a dead turtle hatchling that consumed 104 pieces of microplastic had sparked a yet another mass campaign to end plastic usage.

The said photo was posted on Oct. 2 by the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. It is said that the tiny loggerhead sea turtle was found in Boca Raton, Florida and is "very weak and emaciated." 

The turtle died after.

Emily Mirowski, a resident sea turtle rehabilitation assistant at the center, dissected the turtle shortly after its death and found plastic inside its stomach. She was hopeful that this picture will raise more awareness about responsible plastic disposal.

This poor creature is the latest addition to the list of creatures that died from consuming plastic.

A study published in the journal Global Change Biology in December of the previous years said that every turtle examined globally has at least a small fragment of ocean trash inside their tummy. The most common source materials were tires, cigarettes, clothes, and fishing equipment like rope and fishing net.

Baby turtles usually eat the floating seaweeds they found. The fate of some plastics thrown in the ocean ends up sticking to the seaweeds. In the eyes of the turtle hatchlings, the microplastics on the seaweeds are food. Since plastics are not edible and consuming them leads to indigestion and other health problems, this baby turtle had suffered malnutrion and soon died. 

Although she described this as heartbreaking, Marowski said it is not something new. As a matter of fact, this case is so frequent that the center put up a cooler in front of its building where residents could safely leave turtles they have found. It was in the same manner that the hatchling was found. 

Turtles who are waved back to the shore few weeks after it hatched are called "washback." Most washbacks the center found are weak.

Marowski said that they give them a small amount of fluids to keep them hydrated while hoping that the plastic will pass out from their bodies naturally.

Unfortunately, while some survive, many are unlucky—just like the loggerhead hatchling. Marowski said that at least twelve of the turtles they rescued since the washback started died.

According to Emily Duncan of University of Exeter's Centre for Ecology and Conservation, who is also the lead author of the study published in 2018, it is still unknown how turtles could digest plastic nor its effect to their bodies, and she is suggesting to do further research about it, including the transfer of viruses.

Responsibly using and disposing of plastic is the only way to end this problem, Marowski said. However, eliminating the usage of plastic is probably the best solution, as all plastics created never disappear, just broke down to small pieces and a portion of those could go to the gut of poor, unsuspecting animals—just like what happened to this hatchling.