Thursday, February 6, 2014

MAN OWNS THIS PLANET


Photo: Indian Express


Repeated calls to minimize the use of plastic and polythene fall on deaf ears. The havoc they create on this earth is well known. Still scientists rely  on this cheap material and the public for convenience.

Excessive plastic intake lead to elephant’s death

Sabarimala: The wild elephant was found death and as per postmortem report the death was due to excessive intake of plastic waste. Mathrubhumi News got the postmortem visuals of plastic waste inside the stomach of the dead elephant. The elephant was found dead at Valiyanavattom near Sabarimala. The heavy use of plastic and throwing it in the jungle premises lead to the eating and finally to the pathetic death of elephant. Though this area was plastic banned, the authorities failed to control it.


File photo - for representation. PTI
At a time when animal buffs are concerned about plastic articles being abandoned in forests, a 40-year-old female elephant was found dead with about two kg of plastic waste in its bowels in a forest near the holy hill Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta district recently.

The plastic articles consumed by the jumbo was believed to have been the left over of the two-month long pilgrimage of Sabarimala, which concluded last month.

The carcass of the jumbo was sighted at Valiyaanavattom under the wildlife area of Periyar west division on Saturday.

A top official said huge piles of plastic waste,including polythene carry bags, aluminium foil papers and wrappers of packed food were found in its abdomen during post-mortem.

"The carcass of the elephant was spotted during routine field check. About two kg of plastic waste was found in it's abdomen during post-mortem. It could not take any food at least for some weeks," Sunil Babu, deputy director, Periyar west division, told PTI.

"According to the veterinarians, the animal died of constipation and intestinal blockage. It could not digest the plastic in the intestine or take any other food," he said.  He, however, said no similar incident was reported in the area in the recent past though the presence of plastic waste had been found in the dung of the wild animals before. Stern action was necessary to keep the forest clean and plastic-free, the official added.The carcass was cremated inside the Valiyaanavattom forest yesterday.
Source: Deccan Herald



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