Plastic waste kills rare Cinereous Vulture
During the necropsy of the Cinereous Vulture, a large amount of plastic waste was found instead of food.
A rare bird of prey starved to death despite having a full stomach.
Cinereous Vulture starves in Central Switzerland
In spring, an extremely rare Cinereous Vulture was found in the municipality of Sattel, but died shortly afterwards. It turned out to be one of the largest members of the vulture family and a true rarity in Central Switzerland.
The responsible wildlife warden Markus Raschle caught the Cinereous Vulture and brought it to Steven Diethelm at a raptor care station in Siebnen. The bird was in a life-threatening condition. The following morning it was found dead in the aviary.
Plastic blocked digestion
Cinereous Vultures normally weigh twelve kilograms, but this one weighed only four kilograms. Analysis revealed nothing but plastic waste in its stomach. Evidently, this load of plastic had blocked its digestion, causing the Cinereous Vulture to die a miserable death from starvation. More and more wild animals are ingesting plastic and dying as a result.
Why the animal had eaten plastic remains unclear. It does show us, however, how important it is not to leave any plastic waste outdoors and to consider the needs of wildlife in the way we handle refuse.
