The Deadly Truth about Trash

Without thinking about it, each of us do little things each day that impact our environment and wildlife in a negative way. For example, who would ever think that something as simple as throwing away the ring that is attached to a bottle cap could cost an animal its life?

One year when I was still allowed to raise raccoon, a call came in about a baby raccoon. When they are born, they weigh about 2 ounces and are no bigger than an adult’s pointer finger. This one was about five or six days old and still had its eyes closed. Mom had chosen to have her babies in a dumpster, and more than likely the day this little guy was born, he crawled through a milk bottle cap ring. He grew and was now fighting for his life because the ring was cutting into him and cutting off his air supply.

The mom knew he was going to die and her motherly instincts told her to move her babies away from him to safety because a baby with a problem can and will draw in a predator.

When I got him, the ring was around his front right leg and behind the left leg. I tried but could not hold him and work with the plastic ring at the same time. It was so deep and tight that you could not get anything under it to cut it. I decided to run out to Division of Wildlife. Tom Henry was there and helped me. I held the raccoon while he worked to cut through the plastic, cutting from the top down. I do not know for the life of me how Tom managed to cut the ring off without cutting that baby raccoon, but he did.

It took a full week for the indentation to finally leave. Had this baby not been found, he would have died a slow death. Ever since that time, whenever I get those bottles with rings, I cut those rings in half, because this probably happens more often than we think.

Here are some other items that can be harmful to wildlife:

THREAD, YARN AND STRING ARE DEADLY TO A BIRD

Another problem that I run into is with thread, yarn and string. Some people like to throw these items out for the birds to use in nest building. I have had a large number of birds through the years that are brought to me with those items tangled around beaks, tongues, legs, and one time a litter of four was so tangled up with string that they were all in a ball.

PLASTIC such as bread wrappers and grocery bags are also deadly to many animals.

Many people use MOTH BALLS to keep pests out of areas. If birds pick up (and they do) and eat those moth balls, they die.

So please take a look at some of your everyday items and think of how it is going to impact our wildlife before you throw it away.

Copyright 2016 – 2017 Fran Kitchen | Operation Orphan Wildlife Rehabilitation, Inc.

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