Baby Turtles in Boca Raton, Florida Starved by Plastic, according to an October 6, 2019 UK Independent newspaper story. The story is titled “Baby turtle had more than 100 pieces of plastic in stomach when it died of starvation”. This article makes the following statements:
- Experts say it was one of just dozens of young turtles that have starved to death in the area after eating microplastics
- When babies hatch between March and October each year, they head towards floating seaweed called sargassum, where they live for their first few years
- Microplastics stick to the seaweed, and it looks like food to the baby turtles
- The plastic in their stomachs makes turtles feel full, so they don’t eat or receive the nutrition they need to survive
- The problem won’t end until people stop buying plastics and disposing of them improperly
- Not just recycling, but eliminating plastic out of daily use
- It [plastic] never goes away, it just breaks down to smaller pieces