The Impact of Trash On Birds

When you run a duckling sanctuary, you get calls for all kinds of duck things. I got a call about a duck that had managed to get this wrapped around its neck. It had been shaking its head all day trying to get free of it. Though it wasn’t yet a life-threatening issue, I decided to try to catch the duck to remove the plastic. Unfortunately, ducks are very hard to catch when their mobility is not impeded. I wasn’t able to catch it, but it managed to get the ring off on its own. If you purchase drinks wrapped in this type of thing, please cut through every closed section to be sure a wild animal won’t get caught in it. We get multiple calls each year to free birds from things like this, and it can become life-threatening if it impedes their eating, flying, or gets them caught on something.